Save Alex Haley’s Homespun History

There isn’t much time.

Alex Haley, author of “Roots,” probably did as much for the understanding of black history, and especially black families, as any writer in any time. In fact, he inspired families of all backgrounds.

When he died of a heart attack, at age 70, while in Seattle last February, it was reasonable to assume that his contributions would continue to be honored. But while his position in literary history appears secure, circumstances threaten to truncate his historical memory, as has happened to many other writers and artists through the centuries.

Haley, it seems, left $570,000 in debts and an estate that needs to be divided up. So, early next month, an auction is set to dispose of his 127-acre dream farm near Knoxville, Tenn., and personal effects that include many significant papers and even his Pulitzer Prize for “Roots.”

Goodbye to a chance to concentrate a presentation of black history, American publishing history and the palpable remains of a career devoted to America’s families of all hues.

“The Autobiography of Malcom X,” published in 1965, established Haley’s reputation and sold more than 6 million copies. It is likely to start selling again as Spike Lee’s new film, with a different treatment of Malcom X, appears this fall.

In recent weeks, moreover, a trove of correspondence and other papers related to Malcolm X, the maturing of his political views and Haley’s literary handling of the important subject was discovered among Haley’s effects in Tennessee.

But it was “Roots,” published in 1976, eventually selling more than 5.5 million copies in the United States and appearing in two dozen foreign editions, that truly enthralled the country. Adapted for television in 1977, it attracted an audience of 130 million. “Roots” caused American families, poor as well as rich, black and white, to pay more respectful attention to family heritage.

Haley understood the need for identity, especially for black people, who were violently deprived of it by slavery. Pride, he saw, came from understanding the truth, even though it was homespun history and not history book heroics. Haley mixed informed fiction with the facts he had assembled in order to give deeper texture to his family tree, but he did not distort.

Haley had critics, including historians who questioned his research. But even if “Roots” had been a novel-which it was not—it spoke to realistic truths: that when we talk about “family values,” everyone has a family, at least in the past. The question is, as Haley showed: How can families persevere?

“Roots” is explicitly given credit for inspiring some of the many African American family reunions, and white ones too, that have sprouted up in recent years. No individual did as much as Alex Haley to stimulate interest in genealogy. I know “Roots” helped my family not only to take family history more seriously but also to value more our living relatives, young and old, far and near. That, indeed, may be Haley’s most
enduring message.

His personal motto was, “Find the good…and praise it!’-which helped make the success of his literary career so sweet in our bitter era. He was turning what he called “They Haley Farm” into a conference center and still speaking around the globe at the time he died.

The Haley farm should not be lost, nor his many awards, records and memorabilia auctioned off. Quick action, perhaps by the National Trust for Historic Preservation using its “revolving fund,” or a private foundation, should get an option on the property and stop the auction . Then a public subscription by American families, joined by people of all races, could be established to save the property for a museum on Haley’s life and work, an exhibition or what “Roots” explained of slavery and its aftermath, and a resource center for all families trying to understand their past in order to better appreciate their present.

The auction is set for Oct. 1-3. There isn’t much time.