And the first half of the book — Kunta Kinte’s life in Africa — was blatantly plagiarized from an earlier novel by anthropologist Harold Courlander, who sued Haley, accepting a $650,000 settlement after the court’s expert witness concluded that the copying in the book and the movie was “clear and irrefutable . . . significant and extensive.”
That deal was made after the judge hearing the case, alarmed not only by the extent of the copying but also by Haley’s repeated perjury in court, pressed the sides to settle, then sealed the official file from public view. The judge later admitted (in a BBC documentary that has never run on American TV) that he “didn’t want to destroy” Haley and his reputation.
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