POSITIVELY GOOD READS
Roots:
The Saga of an American Family (1976)
by Alex Haley
Roots:
The Saga of an American Family, the stories of six generations of
Alex Haley’s ancestors starting in the mid-1700s with a 17-year-old
African captured into slavery, was a sensation. It spent 46 weeks on the
New York Times bestseller list and won both a Pulitzer Prize and
the National Book Award in 1977. It was adapted that year into an
eight-part ABC miniseries that was the most-watched series in television
history.
Giving
almost 200 pages to the rich culture and customs of the Mandinka people
in Gambia from which Kunte Kinte sprang, Haley debunked the notion that
Africa is the uncivilized “Dark Continent.” Later scholarship found
discrepancies in Haley’s research, but the exact identity of his African
ancestor is not as important as Haley’s locating his roots in a
particular civilization in which he gained pride. Inaccurate details of
his African-American forebears’ lives do not invalidate his portrayal of
life in slavery: toil from dawn to dusk, demeaning submission to the
“massa,” beatings and torture, and perpetual fear of loved ones being
sold away, never to be seen again.
While
Haley did not downplay slavery’s horrors, Roots is ultimately
hopeful. His ancestors were not mere survivors of oppression. Brave
Kunta Kinte, his foot chopped off after four attempts to escape, made
sure that daughter Kizzy knew about her proud African lineage and would
pass stories and words down to succeeding generations. The special
skills of cockfighting expert George and blacksmith Tom elevated their
standing on the plantation. Their dreams, ambition, and tenacity were
fulfilled in the freed generations, which included the owner of a lumber
business, a college professor, and journalist Haley.
Is
Roots as important today as it was in the 1970s, when few works
of art had examined slavery through the lens of victims? Does its
message still inspire when polls find that Americans think that the
state of race relations is plunging? A&E and the History Channel
thought so in 2017. They aired a four-part update with slicker
production values to appeal to modern audiences, especially younger
people. Like the earlier series, reviews were good.
Forty
years ago Roots had the country talking about slavery. The
conversation continues. As the seminal element in US history, slavery
will always be a relevant topic.
.
Home
My
reviews
My
friends' reviews
