Where Should I go?
How does a 39-year-old retired U.S. Coast Guard become a world-changing Pulitzer prize writer? What would compel a novice writer to take on both fiction and nonfiction technical writing about a subject few were aware of, let alone interested? Today's blog will answer those questions in a way you may not have considered.
Alex Haley was born in Ithaca, New York, on August 11, 1921. He was the oldest of three brothers and a sister. Haley was an intelligent young man and curious about the world around him. His father was Simon Haley, a professor of agriculture at Alabama A&M University, and he expected a lot of young Alex. Like his father, Haley attended Alcorn State University, a historically black college in Mississippi, at the age of 15. However, Alex did not enjoy his time there. A year later, he enrolled at Elizabeth City State College, also historically black, in Elizabeth City, North Carolina. It seems there were too many distractions for the young 16-year-old boy to focus on school work. The following year, he quit college altogether.
After a couple of years of working odd jobs, Alex and his father agreed that he should join the United States Coast Guard. It was 1939, and WWII was on the front of everyone's mind, including Alex. Although the United States was not officially in the war yet, the Coast Guard was supportive in the South Pacific.
Dear Marge
Alex joined as a mess attendant. Later he was promoted to the rate of petty officer third-class (steward), a rare rating open to blacks during the time. Meanwhile in the Pacific Theater of Operations (sometimes called the Asia–Pacific War), Alex was honing his writing style by writing love letters for other crew members to send back to their girlfriends in the U.S.
Subsequently at sea, he would have long bouts of boredom and instead of wasting time with frivolous activities he wrote short stories.
Finding One's Self
When the war ended, Haley requested that the U.S. Coast Guard allow him to transfer into the field of journalism. In 1949 he was a petty officer first-class in the rating of a journalist. As a result, he would later advance to a chief petty officer and held this rank until he retired from the Coast Guard in 1959. Furthermore, Alex would become the first chief journalist in the history of the Coast Guard.
At age 39, Haley's next career started as the senior editor for Reader's Digest magazine. Alex wanted to write meaningful stories that could help all people rise from their current state of awareness. As a result, one of his first articles for the magazine was about his brother George's struggles to succeed as one of the first black students at a Southern law school. His focus was on overcoming any obstacles to achieve your dream. Along the way, he found his voice.
I'm on my Way
In 1960, Alex wrote "Mr. Muhammad Speaks," it was an in-depth examination of the Nation of Islam, led by Elijah Muhammad, and its growing attraction to Black Americans. The story was one of the first balanced representations of the facts and offered insight into a movement that many White Americans found frightening yet informative. It turns out many Americans wanted to learn more.
Hugh Hefner, the founder of Playboy, asked Haley to interview jazz musician Miles Davis about his thoughts and feelings on racism. The article appeared in Playboy's September 1962 issue. That interview set the tone for what became a significant magazine feature. After reading the article, Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. requested to be interviewed by Alex. That Playboy Interview with Haley was the longest he ever granted to any publication and set the tone for a new narrative in Black history.
Throughout the 60s, Haley was responsible for some of the magazine's most notable interviews, including the leader of the American Nazi Party, George Lincoln Rockwell, Muhammad Ali, Jack Ruby's defense attorney Melvin Belli, entertainer Sammy Davis, Jr., football player Jim Brown, Johnny Carson, and music producer Quincy Jones. Consequently, no one was off-limits to Haley.
What is Fear?
During this time, Alex was writing the autobiography of Malcolm X. It was the first book Haley would write, and it was published in 1965. The book described Malcolm X's life trajectory from street criminal to national spokesman for the Nation of Islam and conversion to Sunni Islam. Haley focused on Malcolm X's philosophy of black pride and black nationalism to help readers move past the televised persona they had seen. He also wrote an epilogue (conclusion) to the book summarizing the last days of Malcolm X's life, including his assassination in New York's Audubon Ballroom.
The book was such a masterfully written story that in 1966 Haley received the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award for The Autobiography of Malcolm X. The book was ranked by Time magazine as one of the ten most influential nonfiction books during the 20th century.
Truth and Understanding
However, this would not be Haley's most famous work. While working at Readers Digest, he co-authored The Autobiography of Malcolm X and started writing Roots. During this time, Reader's Digest paid Haley for 12 years and covered all his travel expenses to write Roots. Imagine working for a company that supports your second career and pays you to do so. I'm not sure the executives at RD understood the significance of Haley's book, but they did appreciate his ability to tell a story.
Alex was so taken by the expose' stories he wrote and his interviews with black men and women that he wanted to learn more about his family of origin. His novel, Roots, started with 12 years of research, all stemming from the story of Kunta Kinte. A young African boy kidnapped in the Gambia in 1767 and transported to Maryland, and sold as a slave. One of the most epic parts of the story recounts the Middle Passage — the brutal forced transportation of enslaved people from Africa to America on the ship, The Lord Ligonier, which he said carried his ancestor to the Americas.
The description was the first detailed depiction of how men and women lived on these ships and the conditions they endured. It left a lasting impression on countless readers. So much so that Haley won the Pulitzer Prize for his writing in 1977. Furthermore, Roots was eventually published in 37 languages.
I had no Idea
ABC approached Haley, and he agreed to have his book, Roots, adapted as a popular television miniseries of the same name. The series hit a record-breaking 130 million viewers. Roots established the idea of black Americans in a whole new light. It helped white and black America see a long, rich history existed and that many stories needed to be told and shared. Its popularity also sparked a significantly increased public interest in genealogy.
Haley later recounted that the most emotional moment of his life occurred on September 29, 1967. He was standing at the site in Annapolis, Maryland, where his ancestor had arrived from Africa in chains precisely 200 years before. Alex was a free man in America, but he had felt that there was more to do concerning equality. To this very day, a memorial depicting Haley reading a story to young children gathered at his feet sits in the center of Annapolis.
Linear time makes no difference. Lifetimes of pain, suffering, and joy can take place in a single moment and a single place. Your perception and eventual acknowledgment of those sensations will free you to create.
What sensation do you want to acknowledge?
