Jim Haskins
(b. 1941)

Jim Haskins is a professor of English at the University of Florida. He is the author of more than 100 works of nonfiction, including books about many diverse people—from Magic Johnson to Winnie Mandela to Colin Powell. Haskins' latest books include Spike Lee: By Any Means Necessary and I Am Rosa Parks, written with Rosa Parks.

Haskins was born in Demopolis, Alabama and grew up with a strong tradition of storytelling in his family. In the 1940s, when Haskins was growing up, African Americans were not allowed to use the public library in Demopolis. Books were hard to come by, so Haskins' mother obtained encyclopedias—one volume at a time—from the local supermarket.

After graduating from Boston Latin School, Haskins returned to Montgomery, drawn by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and the civil rights movement. He enrolled at Alabama State University in Montgomery, but was expelled following an arrest during the march on Montgomery. In 1960, he received a BA in psychology from George Washington University. He earned a second BA in history at Alabama State and a graduate degree in social psychology at the University of New Mexico.

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