Alex Haley papers 1967-1990

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Alex Haley papers 1967-1990

http://archives.nypl.org/scm/20667

Correspondence, interviews, financial records, writings and project files, documenting Alex Haley's activities from 1969 to 1990. Among the papers are working files for Haley's interviews with Miles Davis, Muhammad Ali (then Cassius Clay), Sammy Davis, Jr., Jim Brown and Quincy Jones, and published in Playboy magazine. The correspondence, dating from 1969 to 1990, provides a broad picture of the different types of activities Haley was involved in, such as public speaking and public appearances, the Roots and Kinte foundations, board memberships, projects with Warner Brothers, Disney Corporation and Readers' Digest, as well as fan mail relating to Roots and in general. There are also letters from aspiring writers and genealogists seeking advice and assistance, royalty files for Roots and The Autobiography of Malcolm ̲̲X, and correspondence with his literary agent and his publisher. The collection also contains information regarding the foreign editions of Roots and a promotion file for Haley's last book, A Different Kind of Christmas. In addition there are files from different writing and television projects Haley worked on. These include articles on Leontyne Price and Leadbelly, a television series called "Phone Man," some files related to the production of "Palmerstown," and files for a proposed mini-series, "The China Story.".

10.8 lin. ft. (15 boxes)

Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. Rare Books, Manuscripts, and Archives Section

Information

SNAC Resource ID: 6316958

Related Entities

There are 9 Entities related to this resource.

Davis, Sammy, Jr., 1925-1990

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w67n10bd (person)

Samuel George Davis Jr. (December 8, 1925 – May 16, 1990) was an American singer, dancer, actor, vaudevillian and comedian who has been called "the greatest entertainer ever to grace a stage in these United States." At age three, Davis began his career in vaudeville with his father Sammy Davis Sr. and the Will Mastin Trio, which toured nationally. After military service, he returned to the trio and became an overnight sensation following a nightclub performance at Ciro's (in West Hollywood) afte...

Haley, Alex, 1921-1992

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6xj0gb0 (person)

Alexander Murray Palmer Haley (August 11, 1921 – February 10, 1992) was an American writer and the author of the 1976 book Roots: The Saga of an American Family. ABC adapted the book as a television miniseries of the same name and aired it in 1977 to a record-breaking audience of 130 million viewers. In the United States, the book and miniseries raised the public awareness of black American history and inspired a broad interest in genealogy and family history. Haley's first book was The Auto...

Davis, Miles, 1926-1991

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6jb6wxc (person)

Miles Dewey Davis III (May 26, 1926 – September 28, 1991) was an American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the history of jazz and 20th-century music. Davis adopted a variety of musical directions in a five-decade career that kept him at the forefront of many major stylistic developments in jazz. Born in Alton, Illinois, and raised in East St. Louis, Davis left to study at the Juilliard School in New York City, before dropping...

Leadbelly, 1885-1949

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w68s56cj (person)

Ali, Muhammad, 1942-2016

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6rr26h6 (person)

Muhammad Ali (b. Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr., January 17, 1942, Louisville, KT-d. June 3, 2016, Scottsdale, AZ) began training as an amateur boxer when he was 12 years old. At 18 he won a gold medal in the light heavyweight division at the 1960 Summer Olympics and turned professional later that year. After converting to Island, he changed his name to Muhammad Ali. During the Vietnam War he refused to be drafted into the U.S. military, citing his religious beliefs and opposition to American involv...

Brown, Jim, 1936-....

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6j127b8 (person)

X, Malcolm, 1925-1965

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w658220q (person)

Black activist. From the description of Radio broadcast of an interview with Malcolm X, 1962. (Columbia University In the City of New York). WorldCat record id: 309736449 Black nationalist. From the description of Reminiscences of Malcolm X : lecture, [196-?]. (Columbia University In the City of New York). WorldCat record id: 122513305 African American nationalist leader and minister of the Nation of Islam who sought to broaden the civil rights struggle ...

Jones, Quincy, 1933-....

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6736vb4 (person)

An impresario in the broadest and most creative sense of the word, Quincy Jones' career has encompassed the roles of composer, record producer, artist, film producer, arranger, conductor, instrumentalist, television producer, record company executive, magazine founder and multi-media entrepreneur. As a master inventor of musical hybrids, he has shuffled pop, soul, hip-hop, jazz, classical, African and Brazilian music into many dazzling fusions, traversing virtually every medium, including record...

Price, Leontyne.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6g18262 (person)