Today, August 11th, we remember author Alex Haley, who was born on this day in 1921….and the time he spent in the Alamo City
Photo: Courtesy Michael Ochs Archives / Getty Images
Alex Haley was born in Ithaca, New York, the eldest of 3 brothers and a half-sister, and at the age of 18, he enlisted in the United States Coast Guard, where he went on to have a 20 year career. During his time in the Coast Guard, he taught himself the art of writing stories, which proved to be lucrative when he was regularly paid by other sailors to pen love letters to their girlfriends back home.
Following his service in World War 2, because of his new found passion, Alex applied to the Coast Guard to allow him to transfer into journalism, and by 1949 he had attained the rank of Petty Officer First Class in the rating of Journalist. He advanced his career by becoming a Chief Petty Officer, the rank he held until his retirement from the Coast Guard in 1959.
After his service in the U.S Coast Guard, he advanced his writing career by becoming a senior editor at the Reader’s Digest magazine.
He also wrote for Playboy magazine, and his interview with jazz musician Miles Davis, centering on his feelings about racism, appeared in the September 1962 edition. That interview catapulted Alex into the spotlight where he conducted more memorable interviews for Playboy with such people as Muhammad Ali, Jack Ruby, Sammy Davis Jr, Johnny Carson, Malcolm X, footballer Jim Brown, Quincy Jones, George Lincoln Rockwell ( the leader of the American Nazi party), and Martin Luther King Jr, who granted Alex Haley the longest interview he ever did with any publication.
He published his first book, “The Autobiography of Malcolm X” in 1965, following over 50 in-depth interviews that he conducted with Malcolm X between 1963 and 1965. In 1998, Time magazine rated “The Autobiography of Malcolm X” as one of the 10 most influential nonfiction publications of the 20th Century.
In 1976, Alex Haley published “Roots: The Saga of the American Family”, in which he drew inspiration from his family’s own history, going back to days of slavery.
“Roots” was eventually published in 37 languages, and Alex Haley was awarded a special Pulitzer Prize for his work in 1977.
Photo: Courtesy ABE Books
That year, the book became a popular miniseries on ABC television, where it attracted a record-breaking 130 million viewers. Then in 1979, the sequel miniseries “Roots: The Next Generation” was also screened by ABC.
However, there was some controversy following the publication with 2 lawsuits brought against “Roots”…one was dismissed, the other was successful, and writer Harold Courlander reportedly received an out-of-court settlement of $650,000 in 1978.
A not-so-well known story about Alex Haley is that for a time, he had an apartment on the San Antonio Riverwalk, and he told friends that he had found a “new home on the road“
Following a speaking engagement in Victoria TX, he was scheduled to drive to Houston, and then fly back to Los Angeles. However, he and friends rented a car instead, and found their way to the Alamo City, which had captivated him since he gave a lecture here in 1979 at Trinity University. In his words, he was “intrigued by the city”.
That Thursday night, September 24th 1981, he and his friends enjoyed a meal at the Budapest Restaurant in La Villita.
Author photo: The current site of the Budapest Restaurant
The meal was followed by a horsedrawn carriage ride around the city, stopping at sites like the Alamo, and the night concluded with a stroll along the Riverwalk. According to Alex Haley, he was “charmed with a city whose people had taken a liability ( the riverwalk area ) and turned it into an asset”
The next day he found a small riverside apartment in the Casino Club Building, and took out a short lease.
Author photo: Casino Club Building
He confided to friends that the residence “would be like a hideout if I want to work”, and he visited his artistic sanctuary when he wanted to “escape the confines of maddening Los Angeles”.
At the time that he occupied the apartment, some of his nearby Riverwalk neighbors were Tommy Lee Jones, philanthropist Gilbert Denman, rancher ( and owner of the Fairmount Hotel ) B.K. Johnson, and Maggie Cousins, the former Managing Editor of “Good Housekeeping” and “McCall’s”.
Photo of Alex Haley on the Crockett Street Bridge over the Riverwalk
Some extra trivia about Alex Haley:
* The rank of Chief Petty Officer in the rating of Journalist was a Naval position especially created for Alex due to his exceptional literary abilities.
* On all of his correspondence, Alex Haley had a sentence printed on the bottom of each piece of stationery which read “ Find the good and praise it ”
- Green was his favorite color, and he wrote a lot of his manuscripts with a green felt tip pen.
* Apart from his residence in San Antonio, Alex Haley also escaped to write in another hideaway located in Marakesh, Morocco.
Sources:
“Jet” magazine 10/19/1981
“San Antonio Light” 10/28/1981 & 5/9/1983
Special thanks to the Alex Haley Family
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