“It matched exactly what the family legend said,” he said. The Y chromosome, carried only by males, is “traveling in tandem through time with the family surname,” Smolenyak said.Ĭhris Haley’s DNA sample was compared to more than 50,000 DNA profiles in the DNA database, and the results impressed Smolenyak. Chris Haley’s DNA sample contained the Y chromosome also carried by Haley men through generations. Smolenyak is the chief family historian for and co-author of the best selling book, “Trace Your Roots with DNA.”ĭNA is a long microscopic molecule in the human body that is copied and inherited across generations. In 2007, Chris Haley, 46, accepted an invitation from professional genealogist Megan Smolenyak to submit a DNA sample for genealogical research. The weeklong television miniseries “Roots,” which aired in 1977, garnered the largest viewing audience in the history of American television up to that time. But critics later questioned the book’s accounts of historical fact, and Alex Haley was even accused of plagiarism. The Pulitzer Prize-winning book inspired millions of Americans to embark on a quest for their own genealogical roots. “Roots,” published in 1976 during the American bicentennial, traced the Haley ancestors from their time as slaves in America back to their origins in Africa. “Very seldom in my family did anyone take the time to validate, because you didn’t in any way question it.”Īlex Haley, famous for his book “The Autobiography of Malcolm X,” incorporated his family stories into the books “Queen” and “Roots: The Saga of an American Family.”

“It was only family history for us,” said Chris Haley from his office in Annapolis, Md., where he is director of the Study for the Legacy of Slavery at the state archives.Įxcept for random letters found folded in a book or scribblings in a family Bible, documentation was scarce, Haley said, and the family stories were treated as gospel. He had only an oral history passed down through generations of his family and a family legend that a plantation overseer in Marion County was the father of slave Alec Haley, Alex Haley’s grandfather.Ĭhris Haley, the son of Alex Haley’s brother Julius, may now have lent truth to the story, simply by swabbing cells from his cheek. Author Alex Palmer Haley knew he had roots in northwest Alabama, he just couldn’t prove it.

Alex haley ancestry