No other novelist or historian has provided such a shattering, human view of slavery, - NY Times Alex Haley (1921-1992) wrote the Pulitzer Prize winning book: Roots: The Saga of an American Family in 1976 selling 5.5 million copies . In 1977 the American Broadcasting Company then turned the book into an 8 episode mini-series that brought in over a 130 million viewers from Jan 23-30 in which 37 US cities called it Roots Week. Les Browns (historian of writings and TV) commented that the mini-series emptied theaters, filled bars, caused social events to be canceled and was the talk of the nation during the eight consecutive nights it played on ABC. Haley dug up his ancestral roots and genealogy to discover that his forefather was born in Gambia, West Africa in 1750- and later sold to a slave owner in Virginia. The book did an extremely fine job of exposing the horrors of slavery from 1750-1870. There is controversy however, about whether or not the account is true of Kunta Kinte (the storys main character) being a real character. Whether truth or fiction...Alex Haley still spent a decade doing research in 3 continents of his genealogy, and even traveled from Libya to America on a ship with little clothing to experience only a fraction of what the slaves had to go through. The series exposed what America needed/needs (still) to see. Despite the claims and case against Haley, his work still made the impact it was made for. Haleys efforts were to expose realities- and we all know that the story that was told is what is true for millions of American citizens. Roots is a part of black history because of the impact it made. Whether or not Kunta Kinte is Alex Haleys actual descendant shouldnt take away the grim reality of what was going on in Americas plantations for over 2 centuries. Haley also wrote an autobiography of Malcom X that was published in 1965, and by 1977 over 6 million copies were sold. By 2015, the History channel plans to do a remake of Roots. #TimeToCelebrate sources: biography/people/alex-haley-39420?page=1 https://nytimes/learning/general/onthisday/bday/0811.html telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/10429724/Roots-Alex-Haleys-TV-show-about-slavery-to-be-remade.html
Posted on: Sat, 15 Feb 2014 02:20:48 +0000
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