Video Vault: Alex Haley on WEWS 'Black On Black'

CLEVELAND - Twenty years ago, Feb. 10, 1992, famed author Alex Haley died. Haley’s impact on society with his book and the TV mini-series it spawned have impacted generations of us.

Haley, the author of Roots: The Saga of an American Family, was a guest on the WEWS public affairs show "Black On Black." The show was taped Oct. 5, 1976.

The program is a fascinating 27 minutes of television.

Haley appeared to talk about his book which was, at the time, being filmed for an upcoming ABC mini-series. That mini-series would go on to be one of the most watched television events in history. According to the Museum of Broadcast Communication s , nearly 100 million people watched the eighth and final episode of the series.

Early on, Haley tells of how he came to the realization that the story had to be told from the point of view of the slaves and how he connected to his past generations, in part by sailing on a ship from Monrovia, Liberia to the United States.

When he made that voyage, the book was years over deadline, but Haley felt he needed to make a connection with his ancestors.

Haley was quizzed by panelists Vivian Aplin, Dick Peery, Darlene Johnson and John Lenear. However, a question from the moderator, WEWS reporter Allen Davis, evoked the strongest reaction from Haley.

Allen asked, halfway through the broadcast and at the beginning of clip two in our video player, if Roots would rekindle a respect for older Americans. Haley could barely let Allen finish before he implored everyone to ask older people to tell their stories.

“Sitting down and querying them to tell us what is in their heads, what’s in their memories about our families,” said Haley.

“Many, many, many of us have people who sit right there and we just never in our pell-mell, technological, push-button world think to go back and ask grandma, ask great aunt, great uncle or grandfather what do they know.”

He suggests a way to keep family history alive is through family reunions and the magic moments they create.

He draws a parallel between slavery and drug use saying communities that tolerate the use sales of drugs are enslaving themselves and others.

Haley reveals he and his brothers purchased the land in Africa around Juffure, from where his ancestor Kunta Kinte was kidnapped, enslaved and taken to the United States.

Plans were to build a Kinte memorial park and a mosque. The Haley boys were Methodists, but many of the villagers were Muslim, Haley felt the mosque would do the most good for the community.

Haley leads us through the writing of some of the keys sections of the book. He also describes how one of them will be portrayed on the screen and how he wrote the scene with Chicken George (Ben Vereen) and his master (Chuck Connors) was written in one evening.

Interviewer John Lenear asks Haley about the financial success he has created. Haley dismisses the talk of money, laughing that he has $34 in his wallet.

Haley lays out the plan for his next book, the detective story behind Roots.

Dick Peery poses the show’s last question about the death of Malcolm X. Haley co-authored the biography of the human rights activist and Peery asks if Haley has any insight to his death, but Haley says he has no more insight than anyone else.

A note about "Black On Black": The show was produced by WEWS here in Cleveland in association with WGPR in Detroit. WGPR went on the air in 1975 as the nation’s first black-owned television station. WGPR is today the CBS-owned station WWJ channel 62.

On a personal level, the slate at the top of the show indicates the director’s initials as B. P. for Bill Payne, one of the people instrumental in my employment here at WEWS.

Allen Davis, whose name is actually Abraham Allende, is today the minister at The Lutheran Church of the Covenant in Maple Heights.