Morning Announcements 2/10/2012
Read Pledges and a Moment of Silence
Psychology Club is having a meeting today during D-lunch in room 208.
Black History Month Event Interest Group Meeting will be held in the Viewing Room
on Friday after school. Please arrive promptly as we have items to discuss!!!!
Serving Our Community Organization (SOCO) will be having a Bake Sale after
school today. All profits will go to Children's Medical Center in Dallas.
SPIRIT Club “Ready to WOW your friends with the latest, trendiest, most fabulous
Valentine’s Day gift ever (…one that won’t BREAK THE BANK)? Impress everyone
by sending the unique gift of GOOD FORTUNE for Valentine’s Day. Spirit Club will be
selling Special Mystery FORTUNE COOKIES which contain special messages for the
day. Maybe fate will give the Perfect cookie to the Perfect Person? At the very least, we
can guarantee that they are good for a laugh! For the price of only 1 Dollar, that’s right,
only ONE DOLLAR, your special friend will receive a HAND DELIVERED,
personalized note, chocolate kisses, AND a mystical fortune cookie containing a special
message JUST for them! It’s practically a GOOD LUCK GUARNANTEE!!! ALL FOR
ONLY ONE DOLLAR!!!! WOW!!!!!!! Order forms are available in your advisory, and
cookies will also be on sale FRIDAY and MONDAY during lunch!!! Look for the
LUCKY COOKIE BOOTH! Items will be delivered on Valentine’s Day during
Advisory or 3rd Period.”
Girls Soccer Tryouts Monday from 4-5:30 on the Soccer Field.
RTC Final Trip meeting Monday from 6-7 in the East Commons.
A Day in Black History Alex Haley Dies February 10, 1992.
Alex Haley
Levar Burton as Kunta Kinte in Roots
Alexander Murphy Palmer Haley was born on August 11, 1921 in Ithaca, New York. He
was the oldest child of Simon Alexander and Bertha Palmer Haley. At the time of his
birth, his father was a graduate student at Cornell University and his mother was a music
teacher.
As a young boy, Alex Haley first learned of his African ancestor, Kunta Kinte, by
listening to the family stories of his maternal grandparants while spending his summers in
Henning, Tennessee. According to family history, Kunta Kinte landed with other
Gambian Africans in "Napolis" (Annapolis, Maryland) where he was sold into slavery.
Alex Haley's quest to learn more about his family history resulted in his writing the
Pulitzer Prize-winning book Roots. The book has been published in 37 languages, and
was made into the first week-long television mini-series, viewed by an estimated 130
million people. Roots also generated widespread interest in genealogy.
Haley's writing career began after he entered the U.S. Coast Guard in 1939. Haley was
the first member of the U.S. Coast Guard with a Journalist designation. In 1999 the U.S.
Coast Guard honored Haley by naming a Coast Guard Cutter after him. Haley's personal
motto, "Find the Good and Praise It," appears on the ship's emblem. He retired from the
military after 20 years of service, and then continued writing.
Out of the service, he tried his hand at journalism in the private sector. His first
successful article was an interview that appreared in Playboy Magazine in 1962. Alex
next worked on The Autobiography of Malcolm X. Published in 1965, it became Haley's
first major book.
It was about this time his thoughts then turned back to the family story of the African
slave that he heard as a child. His work on the story, which he knew he had to write,
became a primary focus of his writing efforts. He details his many years of research in
the last chapter of Roots. First referred to as Before This Anger, it was eventually
published in abbreviated form in 1974 by the Reader's Digest. The completed version of
Roots was placed on bookshelves in 1976. The award winning book and television miniseries introduced Kunta Kinte to the world.
Other Haley publications include A Different Kind of Christmas, a 1990 book about the
underground railroad, and Queen, the story of Haley's paternal ancestors. Queen was
produced into a television mini-series, which first aired in the winter of 1993.
Perhaps one of Alex Haley's greatest gifts was in speaking. He was a fascinating teller of
tales. In great demand as a lecturer, both nationally and internationally, he was on a
lecture tour in Seattle, Washington, when he died on February 10, 1992.