Alex Haley - Roots: The Saga of an American Family

Rookie Season: Debuts | Week 63º

Apr 04, 2024

Extra seasoning for your everyday food for thought

Genre: Novel? Historical Fiction? Biography?

“However hard they were playing, the children never failed to pay every adult the respect their mothers had taught them to show always toward their elders. Politely looking the adults in the eyes, the children would ask, ‘Kerabe?’ (Do you have peace?) And the adults would reply, ‘Kera dorong.’ (Peace only).”
— Alex Haley

Back Cover (Dell Publishing Co.):

“It begins with a birth in 1750, in an African village; it ends seven generations later at the Arkansas funeral of a Black professor whose children are a teacher, a Navy architect, an assistant director of the U.S. Information Agency, and an author. The author is Alex Haley. This magnificent book is his.”

Roots: The Saga of an American Family, the 1976 debut by Alex Haley, tells the story of Kunta Kinte, an 18th-century African, captured as an adolescent, transported to North America, and sold into slavery. This staggering, multi-generational book follows Kunta’s life and the lives of his descendants in the United States—down to the book’s author (Haley himself).

Roots was described as nonfiction up until the 1990s, when historians and genealogists fact-checked Haley’s account of his family’s experiences as being enslaved in North Carolina and Virginia and (unfortunately) declared Roots contained too much conjecture and historical inaccuracies to be considered fact.

However, Haley’s epic saga, combined with its hugely popular television adaptation (1977)1, led to a cultural sensation in the United States, fueling an explosion of interest in the fields of genealogy and researching of family histories, spending forty-six weeks on The New York Times Best Sellers list, including twenty-two weeks at number one, and earning Haley a Pulitzer Prize Special Citation (1977)2 and a National Book Award Special Citation for History (1977).3

“Out under the moon and the stars, alone with his son that eighth night, Omoro completed the naming ritual. Carrying little Kunta in his strong arms, he walked to the edge of the village, lifted his baby up with his face to the heavens, and said softly, ‘Fend kiling dorong leh warrata ka iteh tee.’ (Behold—the only thing greater than yourself.)”
– Alex Haley, Roots: The Saga of an American Family

Kinda reminds me of “The Circle of Life” scene in Lion King (1994)

Did You Know?

Did you know that during the same year Alex Haley’s Roots was first published (in 1976), President Gerald Ford “officially” recognized Black History Month by issuing a Presidential message?

(Presidential messages are written statements presented to Congress which often include the President’s Budget, State of the Union address, and messages regarding the need for legislation.)

On February 10, 1976, from the White House, President Ford called upon the American public to, “seize the opportunity to honor the too-often neglected accomplishments of Black Americans in every area of endeavor throughout our history.”

Tell Me More . . .

Consider this fact: It took TEN YEARS! (1986)4 for Congress to pass law designating February as Black History Month, the event ultimately growing out of “Negro History Week”—the brainchild of noted historian Dr. Carter G. Woodson.

Why February?

“It is commonly said that Carter G. Woodson selected February [for Negro History Week] to encompass the birthdays of two great Americans who played a prominent role in shaping Black history, namely Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass, whose birthdays are the 12th and the 14th, respectively.”5

“I was born **Feb. 12th,** 1809, in Hardin County, Kentucky. My parents were both born in Virginia, of undistinguished families.” - **Abraham Lincoln**

Some Food For Thought:

Many of Haley’s Roots detractors based their discrediting evidence on recorded historical documents, stating, “Some elements of Haley's family story can be found in the written records, but the likely genealogy would be different from the one described.”6

However, Haley criticized his detractors reliance on written records in their evaluations, countering, “In those days, slaves were sold and shifted much like livestock, so records were sporadic. Nor did records reflect things like children born from unions between white masters and Black women.” Haley asserted, “When it comes to Black genealogy, well-kept oral history is without question the best source.”7