Roots is a best-selling autobiographical book by the African American author Alex Haley that traces Haley’s ancestry back to 1750. Sections of Haley’s book first appeared in the periodical Reader’s Digest in 1974. The full novel, called Roots: The Saga of an American Family, was published in 1976. Haley received a special citation from the Pulitzer Prize Board for Roots in 1977. The book was adapted into an eight-part television series in 1977 that became one of the most-watched programs in television history. A TV sequel, called Roots: The Next Generation, was broadcast in 1979. The success of the book and the TV series inspired a new interest in family history among African Americans who had felt distanced from their African origins. Roots was remade into another TV miniseries in 2016.
The idea for Roots originated with stories Haley heard as a boy from his grandmother and aunts in Henning, Tennessee. Haley spent 12 years researching the book, tracing his ancestry back to the Mandinka ethnic group in Juffure, a village in the Gambia region of western Africa. Haley followed several generations of his family, starting with Kunta Kinte, who was brought to the American Colonies as a slave in 1767 at the age of 17. Haley then portrayed the history of his family to the mid-1900’s, highlighting events that reflect the racial conflicts of various time periods.
Some critics questioned whether Roots should be considered a novel or history. The events are based on fact, but the dialogue and the characters’ thoughts are fiction.
See also Haley, Alex.
