Both a best selling book by Alex Haley, and a miniseries first broadcast on ABC in January 1977, "Roots," chronicles the history of Haley's own family across many generations. The story leads from the kidnapping of a young African warrior, Kunta Kinte, to his descendants’ eventual release from slavery after the American Civil War. The story is a combination of fact and fiction, in that the members of Haley's family did exist, and the major events that happened to them in the book did happen in real life, but much of the rest of the book is fictional.
Kunta Kinte is captured one day while looking for wood in Africa, and survives a hellish Atlantic crossing to be sold in America. He receives brutal treatment at the hands of his “Masters” and refuses to consider himself a slave. After time and repeated escape attempts, he is eventually sold to a somewhat kindlier master, settles down and marries, to a lady named Bell. Together they had a daughter named Kizzy, who inherits her father’s rebellious streak.
One night at the age of 16, Kizzy breaks the rules, and is sold the next day to a fighting cock breeder named Tom Lea. Tom rapes Kizzy almost nightly, and she has his son, “Chicken” George, so named because of his skill at cockfighting. George uses his skills to buy his freedom, and also meets and marries another slave, Matilda, with whom he has 8 children. The story then goes on to follow the 4th child, Tom, who fights in the American Civil War for the Union Army, and gains emancipation when they emerge victorious. He and his father must then go on to deal with living as free men in a society filled with racism.
The best-selling book by Alex Haley received the 1976 National Book Award, a 1977 Pulitzer Prize, and the Spingarn Medal from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Over all it is regarded as a damned fine book.
The miniseries based upon the book made television history. The 12 hours of material was broadcast on 8 consecutive nights in January 1977. It averaged an incredible 45 rating and 66 share, and it still remains as the highest rated miniseries of all time. 100 million people watched the final night of the miniseries setting a single episode ratings record that was not beat until the 1983 finale of M*A*S*H. It swept the Emmys that year, winning 9 awards. 85% of American homes watched one or more part of the miniseries, which ABC had initially thought would be a flop. They had remained skeptical about the viability of marketing a series with black heroes and white villains to the American public at the time. There are some who called Roots the single most spectacular educational experience in race relations in America.
PRODUCER: Stan Margulies
Adapted for Television by William Blinn
CAST
Kunta Kinte (as a boy): LeVar Burton
Kunta Kinte (Toby: adult): John Amos
Binta: Cicely Tyson
Omoro: Thalmus Rasula
Nya Boto: Maya Angelou
Kadi Touray: O.J. Simpson
The Wrestler: Ji-Tu Cumbuka
Kintango: Moses Gunn
Brimo Cesay: Hari Rhodes
Fanta: Ren Woods
Fanta (later): Beverly Todd
Capt. Davies: Edward Asner
Third Mate Slater: Ralph Waite
Gardner: William Watson
Fiddler: Louis Gosett, Jr.
John Reynolds: Lorne Greene
Mrs. Reynolds: Lynda Day
George Ames: Vic Morrow
Carrington: Paul Shenar
Dr. William Reynolds: Robert Reed
Bell: Madge Sinclair
Grill: Gary Collins
The Drummer: Raymond St. Jacques
Tom Moore: Chuck Connors
Missy Anne: Sandy Duncan
Noah: Lawrence-Hilton Jacobs
Ordell: John Schuck
Kizzy: Leslie Uggams
Squire James: Macdonald Carey
Mathilda: Olivia Cole
Mingo: Scatman Crothers
Stephen Bennett: George Hamilton
Mrs. Moore: Carolyn Jones
Sir Eric Russell: Ian McShane
Sister Sara: Lillian Randolph
Sam Bennett: Richard Roundtree
Chicken George: Ben Vereen
Evan Brent: Lloyd Bridges
Tom: Georg Stanford Brown
Ol' George Johnson: Brad Davis
Lewis: Hilly Hicks
Jemmy Brent: Doug MaClure
Irene: Lynne Moodu
Martha: Lane Binkley
Justin: Burl Ives