American folklorist Harold Courlander (1908-1996) was not a familiar name to most people during his lifetime. By preserving the history of Native Americans, as well as Asians, Indians, and countless African tribes, his work became crucial to an understanding of the paths traveled by world civilization.

In 1967, Harold Courlander published a novel called, The African. Many people were more familiar with the author Alex Haley's book, Roots, published in 1978. It was developed into the most popular television mini-series of the 1970s. What connected the two stories, and the two men, was the court case that occurred when Courlander brought suit against Haley.

Courlander claimed that plots in Haley's Roots were directly lifted from The African. Haley argued that the story was exclusively that of his own family's rise from slavery in America. The lawsuit made headlines throughout the United States during the summer and fall of 1978. After six...