Alex Haley

Alec came home at midnight. He was weary and worried, but there was no point in looking anymore until daylight. Julie had come to keep Minnie company, and they had cooked a meal for the searchers. When Alec came in, they looked at him hopefully, but he shook his head. They sat him down and fussed over him, and told him to eat, but he coud not, knowing Queen was out there somewhere, hungry and alone.

He fell to his knees and prayed that she was safe. He was not an overly devout man--he believed in God in a general way, not as an active participant in their lives--but he had no one else to turn to. When God did not answer his prayer the next day, he became bitter, and despaired for his wife. He sat in his rocking chair that night and would not go to bed. He hoped, against all common sense, that in a little while he would see her walking along the path toward him, and she would come to him, and sit in her rocking chair, and puff on her empty pipe, and never go away again. As the night wore on, he could not even bring himself to look at the empty chair beside him, for it reminded him too painfully of what he had lost.

As the steel of dawn edged into the sky, he fell asleep in his chair, still waiting fror her to come home. --Alex Haley's Queen, The Story of an American Family

Alex Haley was born on August 11, 1921 in Ithaca, NY. He was a prolific writer. Of his many published works, Roots is no doubt the most well-known. It was produced as a television miniseries which aired in 1977. There would be few people under the age of fifty who did not watch every episode of the heartwrenching story. Queen also became a TV miniseries which was first presented in 1993.

Kunta Kinte-Alex Haley Foundation is a prime source for further information about this great American author.

Alex Haley 1921 - 1992 RIP

Folk musician, folklorist Mike Seeger, born August 15, 1933, died August 10, 2009. RIP