The Unified Command said three additional tugs are on standby along with the Coast Guard Cutter Alex Haley and two oil spill response vessels.

NPR: Grounded Shell Oil-Drilling Ship Refloated

It's still sound advice -- and in the intervening years, black authors have taken it, from Alex Haley's 1976 blockbuster, "Roots, " to Toni Morrison's haunting "Beloved" from 1987.

CNN: Why 'Django Unchained' stirs race debate