"Alex Haley"

Portraits By Brian Wilkes

I was fortunate to spend an afternoon with Alex Haley (1921-1992), his son, and grandson back in 1978. As we spoke of many topics, we got to genealogy, and my own strange mixed ancestry. He challenged me to continue digging and documenting, saying that my ancestors deserved no less. Almost half a century later, I'm a royal genealogist, with proven descent from royal houses in Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and Central Asia. I was planning to use a kinte-pattern background, but instead found this more appropriate textile print from his ancestral Gambia. For me, his interlaced fingers represent the way in which our various diverse lineages intertwine over the ages. While Haley is best remembered as the descendant of an African who survived the Middle Passage, he also descends from the family of William "Braveheart" Wallace.