Find the good and praise it- A phrase the late Alex Haley, author of the 1976 novel “Roots: The Saga of an American Family,” often said during his life, from his days residing in the small West Tennessee town of Henning through his world travels as a journalist and writer. His seminal book about the horrors and injustices of slavery include messages of perseverance, courage and strength.
On the occasion of his 100th birthday, the author’s bridge-building legacy is being invoked once again as a kind of antidote to an especially contentious period of American life. A ribbon-cutting at the renovated Alex Haley Museum and Interpretive Center took place Friday, and a community celebration featuring music, food and a fashion show held Saturday.
Haley’s life was filled with examples of living by those words. There was the time he encouraged close friend Fred Montgomery to become his hometown’s first Black mayor, pushing back at resistance from some of the town’s white populace.
Haley who died in 1992, also is remembered in this month’s re-release of a 2003 book entitled “Finding the Good,” by Lucas L. Johnson II.
Haley is most well-known for “Roots,” which earned him a Pulitzer Prize and was turned into a TV miniseries watched by a record-setting 130 million people when it was released in 1977. Haley also wrote “The Autobiography of Malcolm X,” based on interviews with the civil rights leader.
The Henning museum and the home where Haley lived with his grandparents from 1921 to 1929 are state historic sites.
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