![]() ![]() Kunta is surrounded by love and traditions. His village subsists on farming, and sometimes they lack enough food, as the climate is harsh. Kunta, a Mandinka living by the River Gambia, has a difficult but free childhood in his village, Jufureh. Roots tells the story of Kunta Kinte-a young man taken from the Gambia when he was seventeen and sold as a slave-and seven generations of his descendants in the United States. Haley spent the last chapter of the book describing his research in archives and libraries to support his family's oral tradition with written records. The book was originally described as "fiction," yet sold in the non-fiction section of bookstores. ![]() It stimulated interest in African American genealogy and an appreciation for African-American history. The last seven chapters of the novel were later adapted in the form of a second miniseries, Roots: The Next Generations (1979). The novel spent forty-six weeks on The New York Times Best Seller List, including twenty-two weeks at number one. ![]() The release of the novel, combined with its hugely popular television adaptation, Roots (1977), led to a cultural sensation in the United States. It tells the story of Kunta Kinte, an 18th-century African, captured as an adolescent, sold into slavery in Africa, and transported to North America it follows his life and the lives of his descendants in the United States down to Haley. Roots: The Saga of an American Family is a 1976 novel written by Alex Haley. ![]()
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