Title: Alex Haley Letter

Date/Date Range :   1969 May 2

Extent: 0.1 linear feet

Abstract:

This collection, the Alex Haley Letter, 1969, consists of the letter and envelope sent on May 3, 1969, by Alex Haley to Mrs. William Harmon Farrow, thanking her for the book she gave him ( Light and Truth by R.B. Lewis, "A Colored Man" ) from her father's collection.

Call number: MS-2338

Repository: University of Tennessee Special Collections Library, Knoxville, TN

Aquisition Information:

John G. Farrow donated this collection in December 1994.

Access Restrictions:

Collection is open for research.

Copyright:

The copyright interests in this collection remain with the creator. For more information, contact the Special Collections Library.

Preferred Citation:

[Identification of Item], Alex Haley Letter, MS-2338. University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Special Collections Library.

Collection consists of a single folder.

Alex Murray Palmer Haley (1921-1992) was an author, member of the U.S. Coast Guard, and journalist. He was born to a college professor and grammar schoolteacher and grew up in Henning, Tennessee. Haley graduated from high school at the age of 15 and attended college from 1937 to 1939, when he joined the U.S. Coast Guard as a messman. He rose to the rank of Chief Journalist, a position created for Haley. After retiring from the Coast Guard in 1959 and publishing several articles in newspapers and magazines, such as Reader's Digest and Playboy , Haley published, with great success, The Autobiography of Malcolm X in 1964. However, his greatest achievement came with the novel Roots: The Saga of an American Family . For this work, he received a Pulitzer Prize, many other awards, and several honorary degrees. He briefly taught here at the University of Tennessee and lived his last days on a farm in Clinton, TN. In Henning, TN, Haley was buried at his boyhood home, which is now the Alex Haley State Historic Site.

This collection, the Alex Haley Letter, 1969, consists of the letter and envelope sent on May 3, 1969, by Alex Haley to Mrs. William Harmon Farrow, thanking her for the book she gave him ( Light and Truth by R.B. Lewis, "A Colored Man" ) from her father's collection.

There are several collections in the Special Collection Library that pertain to Haley, including MS-1888, MS-2032, MS-2055, and MS-2338.

• Haley, Alex.
• African-American authors -- 20th century.