alex haley telling the back story to roots. this is the famous black intellectual w.e.b. dubois. the subject of the two-volume pulitzer prize-winning work. the interesting thing with dubois you look at that and you think how fascinating i've never even heard his voice. you could pull out your phone right now and it's on itunes so we have the album yes but the world has access to the

and i picked many perl and alex haley. they would not have been cochairman in california or new york or kentucky. they were tennessee. minnie wanted to be cap and hepburn but she had a better opportunity of the grand ole opry and she took it. and she was such a wonderful person. she lived next door to the governor's residence. and people ran for governor to live next door to minnie pearl. alex haley said a -- sat the foot of the steps of his grandparents as a boy. in the summertime, listening to his aunts tell stories of critic and take -- counta kinte. it was those stories that took into gambia in his search for what became the story of "roots." he followed kunta kinte's capture. he was brought to annapolis. and that became the most celebrated television miniseries and best watched in the country's history at the time. and he came back to tennessee and the early 1980's, about the time i was governor, and we were good friends last 12 years of his life. and i'll never forget a three-week cargo freighter trip i took with him

it was based on a 1976 book by alex haley about his family in africa and coming to america as slaves on. >> i will go to my grave believing that "roots" is america's story. it's not just black america's story. >> we might have come over in the bottom of the ship, but we all came over in ships. >> your name means stay put but it don't mean stay a slave. >> we're not children. we're very close to being men. >> what's your name? >> kunta. kunta kintae. >> the character that i got to portray in "roots" was a dream role. >> it was really genius to cast all of america's favorite television dads in the roles of the white slave owners and the villains. >> i'll be by to fetch you in the morning, captain. sleep well. >> it is difficult to explain in today's culture how unprecedented "roots" was. no one had ever seen the story of slavery before told from the point of view of the africans. >> it may be the first time that television allowed an embracing of black pride. >> them is freed. free today. >> one of the reasons that "roots" was so incredibly popular was not because abc had so much faith

alex haley telling the back story to roots. this is the famous black intellectual w.e.b. dubois.the subject of the two-volume pulitzer prize-winning work. the interesting thing with dubois you look at that and you think how fascinating i've never even heard his voice. you could pull out your phone right now and it's on itunes so we have the album yes but the world has access to the continent that outcome and that is exciting. >> host: is that a good thing? >> guest: that is a good thing. we want people to have access to the store of cultural production of knowledge and information. libraries are conduits. we both preserve so imagine if we didn't have it. i don't know where itunes got the master copy but imagine 100 years from now they're going to be something that can't be digitized because they don't exist anymore so we are doing our part to make sure the materials preserved. >> host: does it lend itself to a dumbing down of history? >> guest: sure. the fact that we can keyword search and i will give you the classic example. newspapers are wonderful sources for historical resear

haley! hurry up! you're gonna be late! - alex, what are you doing? - i need to document haley's first day on the chain gang. it's not a chain gang. it's community service. and leave her alone. she feels bad enough as it is. okay, i'm torn. on one hand, i'm like, "ugh, i have to pick up garbage all day." and on the other hand, i'm like - "look at me in orange." - (camera shutter clicks) aw, that's cute. send that to me. haley had a little run-in with the law in college. she was arrested for assaulting a police officer. accidentally. i fell on him. while evading arrest for underage drinking. that was on purpose. they were very lenient with her. she only has to do community service. because i do not have any priors. taking a little too much pride in that, sweetheart. things can get pretty rough out there. i couldn't get my hands on any cigarettes. but i did make you a shiv out of an old knife. you don't make a shiv out of a knife.

haley, stop! mom! mom! what is this? a solar system? it's molecules. they're nerdy balls. alex don't fight with her.a shiv. we cool? (snaps fingers) [captioning made possible by warner bros. domestic television distribution] today on tmz. >> chris brown pulled a huge i don't know how he con convinced carcci so get in the car. >> they let together. >> you want them back together. you miss them. >> no, i don't. i do not. >> this is a train wreck okay. train wreck. >> big day for bobby flay who got his star on the hollywood walk a fame. a plane appears and flew a banner that says "cheater." >> he has a high preponder

alex. >> and governor nikki haley says she believes it was, indeed, a hate crime. lots of talk trymaine about the fact that in the bail hearing yesterday the judge forcefully made a point of saying dylann roof's family is a victim in all of this. what's been the reaction to that and what's next for dylann? >> if ever there was a more poorly timed statement it was yesterday. folks on the ground already again gripped in grief and trying to understand what's going on and then for the judge to say you know basically look to these folks as victims even though they are there living and breathing and figuring things out. but, again people understand that when it comes to violence there are victims on all side. but right now they've said it's time to mourn the nine people killed. what's next is again, the bail at some point may be revoked or set in the nine murder charges that dylann roof face. in the meantime, he's behind us in the detention center. >> okay. tra main lee, thank you very much there from there. >>> a dramatic ending in tucson arizona. a pickup truck driver

haley e-mails me pictures of her nails. and luke asked me if he's part owl. he does get his head pretty far around. alex, i'm so sorry. it's okay. maybe you do put pressure on me, but it's nothing compared to what i put on myself. i guess i needed somebody to blame for what happened today, and there you were. you know i'm in awe of you, right? (both chuckle) come on. i know a back way out of this place. wait. don't you have to return that? no way. i paid good money for this. we're taking it down the waterslide. okay. how can she not be here, either? this is hopeless. (sighs) have a little faith. did the jews give up when the egyptians chased them to the banks of the red sea? how do you know all this stuff? was i the only one listening to uncle menachem's toast? well, i'm glad it worked out for the ancient jews but at the moment i don't see god doing me any-- look! (speaking inaudibly) (manny gasps) i'm not gonna embarrass you, but you got one minute to get out of here. you, too. it's for the best. all this sneaking around was kind of weighing on me. let's just grab our gift bags and go. no. i still have 50 seconds. ex

haley has told us this is out of her power. governor beasley lost his reelection on this specific issue. i don't see it coming down. but i will say this alexed. i'm a white man. i'm a descendant of people who held slaves. my family fought in that war. they lost. it is time to put it in a museum and withbe done with this forever. black citizens matter in south carolina just as much as white ones do. >> hearth,ther it is hard to understand the argument about why the flag needs to be -- he points out first of all the south lost. actually that's second of all. but it is a painful, painful reminder of a terrible chapter in american history. and yet we have shrines to the confederacy all across the nation. the streets of charleston are named after confederate generals. monuments to the defenders of charleston. what do you think that tells us in. >> i think it says a lot of things. i'm not surprised at all that it still continues to be a symbol. this country, the economic system, the political system the very constitution was founded on the belief in unequal human value and in particularly in the lack of humanity of black people, my ancestors. an