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Roots | Introduction

Roots: The Saga of an American Family became a sensation immediately after its publication in 1976. It was adapted into a popular miniseries, and became one of the most-watched television programs in American history. Two sequels, The Next Generation and The Gift, quickly followed.

Roots appealed to readers of every background: for African American readers, the story inspired pride and a greater understanding of the past; and for readers of other ethnicities, it was a powerful look at an American family's immigrant past. Moreover, Haley's work is widely credited with starting the American genealogy craze.

The continuing controversy over Haley's writing and research methods and the facts of his narrative has not dimmed his achievement. Roots is viewed as a mythic saga of African American history, portraying the ways in which enslaved Africans endured suffering and fought for their place in American society. It has earned a place among the popular classics of American literature and remains a profoundly influential and well-loved book.

Roots Summary

Kunta Kinte
Roots begins in a small African village named Juffure with the birth of a son to Omoro and Binta Kinte. The boy is named Kunta Kinte in honor of his famous grandfather, Kairaba Kunta Kinte, who saved the people of Juffure from a terrible drought.

At the age of five, Kunta graduates to the second kafo. He begins to herd goats and go to school. When he is eight, Kunta goes with his father on a journey to visit the new village his uncles, Janneh and Saloum, have founded. By this time, he has formed a close relationship with his younger brother, Lamin.

At the age of ten, Kunta completes his schooling and goes through his manhood training with his mates. He moves into his own hut and gets his own land to farm. By fifteen, he has built a thriving farm. One day, while hunting for wood with which to make a drum, Kunta is captured by white slavers, known as the toubob.

On the long journey to the United States, the slavers place Kunta in the hold of a ship with dozens of other men. After a harrowing journey across the ocean, Kunta and the surviving men and women arrive in Virginia. Kunta begins plotting his escape.

Almost as soon as he has the strength, he tries to escape; he is quickly recaptured. He tries again three more times. On the fourth attempt, the two white patrollers who catch him cut off half of his foot. He quickly loses consciousness, and wakes to find himself on a new farm.

While he recovers, he is tended by Bell, a young African American slave who will later become his wife. Kunta soon meets Fiddler, a talkative man who teaches him English and tells him about events beyond the plantation. He is given the name "Toby" but he insists to Fiddler that Kunta Kinte is his real name.

Kunta begins to work in the plantation garden. He realizes that he prefers life on the plantation to the certainty of death if he tries to escape, though he knows that this acceptance will come at a terrible price to his soul. After Luther, the driver, is sold for helping a young girl escape, Kunta becomes the new driver for the master of the plantation, a doctor named Master Waller.

His new position makes him a source for information about current events. Fiddler resents Kunta's new position, although it does not destroy their friendship. One Thanksgiving, after he has driven Master Waller to a ball, he meets another African, one of the most joyous experiences of his life. Soon afterward, influenced by Boteng Bediako's words to him, "[s]eeds you's got aplenty, you jes' needs de wife to plant 'em in," he marries Bell and they have a daughter, Kizzy.

Although Kunta loves his daughter, he does not approve of the friendship she forms with Miss Anne,... ยป Complete Roots Summary