Roots: The Saga of an American Family is a 1976 novel written by Alex Haley. It tells the story of Kunta Kinte, an 18th-century Mandinka, captured as an adolescent, and transported to North America. It explores his life and those of his descendants in the United States, down to Haley. The novel was adapted as a television miniseries, Roots (1977). The novel spent forty-six weeks on The New York Times Best Seller list, including twenty-two weeks at number one.
The last seven chapters of the novel were later adapted in the form of a second miniseries, Roots: The Next Generations (1979). It stimulated interest in African American genealogy and an appreciation for African American history.
Plot Roots tells the story of Kunta Kinte—a young man taken from The Gambia when he was 17 and sold as a slave—and seven generations of his descendants in the United States. Kunta, a Mandinka living by the River Gambia, has a difficult but free childhood in his village, Jufureh. His village subsists on farming, and sometimes they lack enough food, as the climate is harsh. Kunta is surrounded by love and traditions. The village has heard of the recent arrival of toubob, men with white skins who smell like wet chickens.
Kunta is excited to see the world. At one point, he sees men in hoods taking away some of the children. This confuses Kunta, but he is excited when he learns that his father, Omoro, will take him on a trip away from Juffure. Omoro and Kunta set off, learning much more about their surroundings. When they return, Kunta brags to all his friends about the journey but does not pay attention to his family's goats, which fall prey to a panther.
Later on, Kunta is taken off for manhood training, with other children of his kafo (division or grade). Kunta learns even more about The Gambia, but he fears the slave trade, which he learns is closer to home than he thought. Kunta passes his training and learns more about Juffure's court system. One day, he witnesses the case of a young girl who was kidnapped by the toubob and came back pregnant. She gives birth to a mixed-race child, and the case is unresolved.
One morning when Kunta is cutting wood to make a drum, he is ambushed by slatees (Black slave traders), is knocked unconscious and taken prisoner. He awakens to find himself gagged and blindfolded. The toubob humiliate Kunta and the other captives by stripping them naked, examining them in every orifice and burning them with hot irons. Kunta is then placed in the brig of a ship, naked and chained. After a nightmarish journey across the Atlantic on board the slave ship Lord Ligonier, he is landed in Annapolis, Maryland. John Waller of Spotsylvania County, Virginia, purchases Kunta at an auction and gives him the name Toby. However, Kunta is headstrong and tries to run away four times. When he is captured for the last time, slave hunters cut off part of his right foot to cripple him.
Kunta is then bought by his master's brother, Dr. William Waller. He becomes a gardener and eventually his master's buggy driver. Kunta also befriends a musician slave named Fiddler. In the aftermath of the American Revolutionary War, Kunta marries Bell, Waller's cook, and together they have a daughter, Kizzy. Kizzy's childhood as a slave is as happy as her parents can make it. She is close friends with John Waller's daughter "Missy" Anne, and she rarely experiences cruelty. Her life changes when she forges a traveling pass for her beau Noah, a field hand. When he is caught and confesses, she is sold away from her family at the age of 16.
Kizzy is bought by Tom Lea, a farmer and chicken fighter who rose from poor beginnings. He rapes and impregnates her, and she gives birth to George, who later becomes known as "Chicken George" when he becomes his father's cockfighting trainer. Chicken George is a philanderer known for his expensive tastes and predilection for alcohol, as much as for his iconic bowler hat and green scarf. He marries Matilda and they have six sons and two daughters, including Tom, who becomes a very good blacksmith. Tom marries Irene, a woman originally owned by the Holt family.
When Tom Lea loses all his money in a cockfight, he sends George to England for several years to pay off the debt, and he sells most of the rest of the family to a slave trader. The trader moves the family to Alamance County, where they become the property of Andrew Murray. The Murrays have no previous experience with farming and are generally kind masters who treat the family well. When the American Civil War ends, however, the Murray slaves decide that, rather than sharecrop for their former masters, they will move from North Carolina to Henning, Tennessee, which is looking for new settlers.
They eventually become a prosperous family. Tom's daughter Cynthia marries Will Palmer, a successful lumber businessman, and their daughter Bertha is the first in the family to go to college. There she meets Simon Haley, who becomes a professor of agriculture. Their son is Alex Haley, the author of the book.
Search for his roots Alex Haley also recounts his journey of family discovery and efforts to document his grandmother's stories. He had learned of an ancestor named Kunta Kinte, who was taken as a captive to "'Naplis" and given the slave name Toby. The old African called a guitar a ko, and a river the Kamby Bolongo. While on a reporting trip to London, Haley sees the Rosetta Stone in the British Museum and thinks of his own family's oral traditions. Could he trace his own family lineage back to its origins in Africa?
In the United States census for Alamance County, North Carolina, he finds evidence of his ancestor Tom Murray, the blacksmith. He attempts to locate the likeliest origin of the African words passed down by Kunta Kinte. Dr. Jan Vansina explains that in the Mandinka tongue, kora is a type of stringed instrument, and bolongo is the word for river. Kamby Bolongo could then refer to the Gambia River.
Alex Haley travels to The Gambia and learns of the existence of griots, oral historians who are trained from childhood to memorize and recite the history of a particular village. A good griot could speak for three days without repeating himself. He asks to hear the history of the Kinte clan, which lives in Juffure, and is taken to a griot named Kebba Kanji Fofana. The Kinte clan had originated in Old Mali, moved to Mauritania, and then settled in The Gambia. After about two hours of "so-and-so took as a wife so-and-so, and begat...", Fofana reached Kunta Kinte:
After searching records of British troop movements in the 1760s, Haley finds "Colonel O'Hare's forces" were dispatched to Fort James on the Gambia River in 1767. In Lloyd's of London, he discovers a merchantman named the Lord Ligonier had sailed from The Gambia on July 5, 1767, bound for Annapolis. The Lord Ligonier had cleared customs in Annapolis on September 29, 1767, and the slaves were advertised for auction in the Maryland Gazette on October 1, 1767. He concludes his research by examining the deed books of Spotsylvania County after September 1767, locating a deed dated September 5, 1768, transferring 240 acres and a slave named Toby from John and Ann Waller to William Waller.
Characters in Roots Kunta Kinte – original protagonist: a young man of the Mandinka people, grows up in The Gambia in a small village called Juffure; he was raised as a Muslim before being captured and enslaved. Renamed Toby. John Waller – planter, who buys Kunta Dr. William Waller – physician and John's brother: buys Kunta from him Bell Waller – cook to the doctor and wife of Kunta Kizzy Waller (later Kizzy Lea) – daughter of Kunta and Bell Missy Anne – Dr. Waller's niece, who lives away from the plantation, but visits her uncle regularly. She befriends Kizzy and teaches her reading and writing by playing "school". Tom Lea – slave owner in North Carolina to whom Kizzy is sold George Lea – son to Kizzy and Tom Lea, he is called "Chicken George" Matilda – George's wife as an adult Tom Murray – son of Chicken George and Matilda Cynthia – the youngest of Tom's and Irene's eight children (granddaughter of Chicken George) Bertha – one of Cynthia's children; the mother of Alex Haley Simon Alexander Haley – professor and husband of Bertha; father of Alex Haley Alex Haley – author of the book and central character for last 30 pages; the great-great-great-great-grandson of Kunta Kinte.
Family tree
Reception
Published in October 1976 amid significant advance expectations,(1976, June 13). "Book Ends", The New York Times, p. 222. Roots was immediately successful,(1976, December 13). "CRITICS CIRCLE NOMINATES 20 BOOKS BY U.S. AUTHORS", The New York Times, p. 32.(1976, December 5)."1976: A Selection of Noteworthy Titles", The New York Times, p. 28.4. debuting at number five of The New York Times Best Seller list. (The Times classified it as nonfiction.)(1976, October 22). "Best Seller List", The New York Times, p. 254. By mid-November, it rose to number one.(1976, November 21). "Best Seller List — November 21, 1976", The New York Times, p. 254.
The television adaptation of the book aired in January 1977, which stimulated book sales. Within seven months of its release, Roots had sold more than 15 million hard cover copies.McFadden, Robert D. (1977, April 24). "Alex Haley Denies Allegation That Parts of 'Roots' Were Copied From Novel Written by Mississippi Teacher", The New York Times, p. 4.
In total, Roots spent 22 weeks at the number one spot on The Times list, remaining on the bestseller list for 46 weeks.The New York Times Best Seller List — September 18, 1977 Together, the success of the novel and its 1977 television adaptation sparked an explosion of interest in the fields of genealogy and researching family histories.Cattani, Richard J. (1977, March 21). "The boom in ancestor-hunting", Christian Science Monitor(1977, February 19). "'Roots' Boosts Interest In LDS Genealogy Units", The Deseret News
Haley earned a Pulitzer Prize special award in 1977 for Roots.Carmody, Deidre. (1977, April 19). "Haley Gets Special Pulitzer Prize; Lufkin, Tex., News Takes a Medal", The New York Times, p. 69. The television miniseries garnered many awards, including nine Emmys and a Peabody.
The book was banned in Knox County, Tennessee public schools in 2026.
Plagiarism
In spring 1977, Haley was sued for plagiarism in separate lawsuits by Harold Courlander and Margaret Walker Alexander. Courlander, an anthropologist, claimed that Roots was copied from his novel The African (1967). Walker claimed Haley had plagiarized her Civil War-era novel Jubilee (1966). Legal proceedings in each case were concluded late in 1978.
Courlander's suit was settled out of court for $650,000 (equivalent to $ million in ) and an acknowledgment from Haley that certain passages within Roots were copied from The African.
The court dismissed Walker's case. In comparing the content of Roots with that of Jubilee, it found "no actionable similarities exist between the works".(1978, September 21). "Judge Rules "Roots" Original", Associated Press.(1978, September 22). "Suit against Alex Haley is dismissed", United Press International.
Historical accuracy
Haley called his novel "faction" and acknowledged that most of the dialogue and incidents were fictional. But, he claimed to have traced his family lineage back to Kunta Kinte, a West African taken from the village of Juffure in what is now The Gambia. Haley also suggested his portrayal of life and figures among the slaves and masters in Virginia and North Carolina were based on facts which he had confirmed through historical documents.
In the concluding chapter of Roots, Alex Haley wrote: