Alex Haley is a great American author who wrote about his own lineage in the epic "Roots" which became a very popular television miniseries & the subject of great controversy.Here's more on that from Wikipedia:

"In 1976, Haley published Roots: The Saga of an American Family, a novel based loosely on his family's history, starting with the story of Kunta Kinte, kidnapped in Gambia in 1767 and transported to the Province of Maryland to be sold as a slave. Haley claimed to be a seventh-generation descendant of Kunta Kinte, and Haley's work on the novel involved ten years of research, intercontinental travel and writing. He went to the village of Juffure, where Kunta Kinte grew up and which is still in existence, and listened to a tribal historian tell the story of Kinte's capture.[1] Haley also traced the records of the ship, The Lord Ligonier, which he said carried his ancestor to America. Genealogists have since disputed Haley's research and conclusions and Haley made an out-of-court settlement with Harold Courlander, who had sued him for plagiarism.

Haley was briefly a "writer in residence" at Hamilton College in Clinton, New York. He began to write "Roots" there. Many local people remember Haley fondly. He enjoyed spending time at a local bistro "The Savoy" in Rome New York where he listened to the piano player. Today, there is a special table in honor of Haley with a painting of Alex writing "Roots" on a yellow legal tablet.

Haley said the most emotional moment of his life was on September 29, 1967, when he stood at the site in Annapolis, Maryland where his ancestor had arrived 200 years before. Roots was eventually published in 37 languages and Haley won a Special Award for it in 1977 from the Pulitzer Board. Roots was also made into a popular television miniseries that year. The film reached a record-breaking 130 million viewers when it was serialized on television. Roots emphasized that African Americans have a long history and that not all of that history is lost, as many believed. Its popularity sparked