MAYOR DE BLASIO IS SEEKING DEMOCRATIC NOD FOR PRESIDENT - P G. 2 NATIONAL NEWSPAPER PUBLISHERS ASSOCIATION

THE NATION’S ONLY BLACK DAILY Reporting and Recording Black History 75 Cents Final VOL. 48 NO. 54 FRIDAY, MAY 17, 2019 GREENWICH VILLAGE HONORS ‘ROOTS’ AUTHOR ALEX

A commemorative plaque living there. After the auto - was placed on Hthis bAuilding LbioEgraphY y was published, at 92 Grove Street in Green - Haley's next project was the wich Village to honor Alex Pulitzer Prize winning Haley who co-authored Mal - "Roots: The Saga of An Amer - colm X's autobiography after ican Family," which became a conducting 50 interviews popular television series. with him at the site while SEE PAGE 3. DAILY CHALLENGE FRIDAY, MAY 17, 2019 3

A historic plGaqure ehase benenw plaicecd hth aVt twiol Alfaricgan eAm ehricaonsn plaoyedr isn ‘Roots’ author Alex Haley on a Greenwich Village building American history,” she said. “Their where “Roots” author Alex Haley lived cultural impact can be preserved to and co-authored the autobiography of spark educational exploration for . future generations…” The plaque was placed at 92 Grove Zaheer Ali, oral historian at the Street in a brief ceremony attended by Historic Society, said the descendants of both men. building “is more than historic, it’s “Few places are as important as 92 sacred.” Grove Street, where a historic meeting “In this intimate space, Malcolm X of the minds took place between Alex offered up his life story before an audi - Haley and Malcolm X for a series of ence of one,” Ali said. “Alex Haley in interviews that led to one of the most turn crafted one of the most important important works of non-fiction of the books of the 20th century, one that 20th century,” said Harry Bubbins, has informed and transformed the the special projects director for Village lives of millions of readers worldwide.” Preservation. The building sits across from the Haley conducted 50 interviews with Stonewall National Monument desig - Malcolm X at the site between 1963 nated in 2016 by President Barack and 1965. The autobiography was Obama. published in 1965, shortly after Mal - Following “The Autobiography of colm X’s assassination. Malcolm X,” Haley’s next project was Among those attending the plaque the Pulitzer Prize winning “Roots: The dedication was Malcolm X’s daughter, Saga of an American Family,” which Ilyasah Shabazz. She noted her he wrote while living in rural Jamaica. father’s 94th birthday is May 19 and Haley died in 1992 and is buried in said she’s “glad to see this recognition a yard beside his childhood home in that honors his life and work…Alex Hening, Tenn. Haley played an immeasurable role in Haley’s plaque is the 14th placed by helping the world to create a more the Greenwich Village Society for His - Andrea Blackstone and Harry Bubbins after unveiling the plaque. accurate portrait of who my father toric Preservation. Among others are Photo: Village Preservation was.” at the former homes of writer James Also in attendance was Haley’s Baldwin and poet Frank O’Hara and niece, Andrea Blackstone. the site of rock music venue the Fill - “Placing a plaque to mark the place more East. where my Uncle Alex interviewed Mal - colm X celebrates the important role — Text by Causewell Vaughan

Ilyasah Shabazz, Malcolm X's daughter Brian Jones of the Schomberg Center Photo: Village Preservation Photo: Causewell Vaughan

Zaheer Ali of the Brooklyn of the Brooklyn Historical Society Photo: Causewell Vaughan