And we're back to the Daily with Sillstein here on Anchor, and now we're off to Friday Biography. And here's the Garage Band song Off-Broadway. In case you notice in the last part, you notice the portion of a song that came on near the end. That was one of the songs from the Broadway musical Waitress, and the song played as Park Bench was playing at the same time.
So my apologies on that. Not that there's anything wrong with it, but I was just in case you were wondering about that background track. Now we go to Off-Broadway, Garage Band Music, and begin on Friday Biography. Here on Anchor with Daily with Sillstein.
Okay, Friday Biography. In my writing, as much as I could, I tried to find the good and phrase it. This is from author Alex Haley. You all know who he is right when I read you his, what author Amy Peters discusses in her book, The Writer's Devotional.
Here we go. Alexander Murray Palmer Haley, born 1921 through 1992, was born in Ihaka, New York, where his father was a graduate student at Cornell University. And his mother was a music teacher. Through the stories of his Tennessee grandparents, Haley first heard about Kunta Kinte, his African ancestor, where it come to shore in Maryland aboard a slave ship from Gambia.
Inspired to further research, Haley was able to document Kinte's life, a 10-year research process, which he later turned into roots, a novel that won him a special award from the Pulitzer Award in 1977. And we also know it became a miniseries starring Denzel Washington. Haley was enrolled at Alcorn State University at age 15. Two years later, he dropped out of college.
His father felt that Haley needed discipline and convinced his son to enlist in the military when he turned 18. Haley's writing career began after he entered the U.S. Coast Guard in 1939. During his enlistment, he was paid by other sailors to write love letters to their girlfriends.
He retired from the military after 20 years of service and then began his own writing career, becoming a senior editor for Reader's Digest. His first successful, successfully published article was an interview appearing in Playboy magazine in 1962, and he quickly became known as a consummate interviewer. His first major work was published in 1965 by Autobiography of Malcolm X, which he co-wrote. So in case you didn't know about Alexander Murray Palmer Haley or Alex Haley, he was the writer of the amazing novel, which he won a Pulitzer, a special award from the Pulitzer Board in 1977, Roots.
And then he also co-wrote Malcolm X, aside from joining the military, and he had a repertoire of things that he did in his life and also became a consummate interviewer and a co-a senior editor for Reader's Digest. So there you have it, Friday Biography here on Anchor, and we'll be right back for the Daily with Stillstein. The Daily with Stillstein here on Anchor. We'll be right back with a wrap up.