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What is the Kunta family?
Kunta's family is loyal to the Mandinka king and are resistant to the Europeans. This, however, means the Kinte family faces the danger of reprisal from the rival Koro family, who trade African slaves for English guns. One day, Kunta is taken off into the jungle with other young boys to train to be a warrior.
Why was Kunta's foot cut off?
In the 1977 series, Kunta's foot is cut off after he escapes to look for his teenage love from Africa (a girl named Fanta) while Kunta 's overseer is fired for letting him escape. In the 2016 series, Kunta kills the overseer before joining the British Army.
How long is the Roots miniseries?
The new eight-hour miniseries, with Mark Wolper as executive producer, drew on Haley's novel and the original miniseries albeit from a contemporary perspective. In April 2015, it was announced that along with The History Channel, Lifetime and A&E would also broadcast the remake of the Roots miniseries.
What are the names of the White Masters?
The names of the white masters in the 2016 series revert to their original names from the book Roots, specifically Reynolds, Moore, and Harvey become Waller, Lea , and Murray . The two Waller masters, who are brothers both in the 1977 and 2016 series, are depicted as far more vicious and racist men than in the original series.
Where is Kunta sold?
Despite this, Kunta is still able to start an uprising, but it is suppressed, and the captives are transported across the Atlantic Ocean to Annapolis, Maryland, where he is sold to John Waller ( James Purefoy ), who owns a tobacco plantation in Virginia.
Who is the cast of Roots?
The ensemble cast includes Forest Whitaker as Fiddler, Anna Paquin as Nancy Holt, Lane Garrison as Frederick Murray, Jonathan Rhys Meyers as Tom Lea , Anika Noni Rose as Kizzy, Tip Harris as Cyrus, Emayatzy Corinealdi as Belle, Matthew Goode as Dr. William Waller, Mekhi Phifer as Jerusalem, James Purefoy as John Waller, introduces Regé-Jean Page as Chicken George and Malachi Kirby as Kunta Kinte, South African actress Nokuthula Ledwaba as Binta Kinte – Kunta Kinte's mother and Laurence Fishburne as Alex Haley.
What channel is Roots for Iran?
Expat Persian channel Mano to aired Roots for Iran, Afghanistan and Tajikistan in July 2017.
Storyline
A saga of African-American life, based on Alex Haley's family history. Kunta Kinte is abducted from his African village, sold into slavery, and taken to America. He makes several escape attempts until he is finally caught and maimed. He marries Bell, his plantation's cook, and they have a daughter, Kizzy, who is eventually sold away from them.
Did you know
Author Harold Courlander successfully sued author Alex Haley for plagiarizing works which led to the book that served as the basis for this miniseries. Haley paid $650,000 in an out-of-court settlement.
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By what name was Roots (1977) officially released in India in English?
Storyline
An adaptation of Alex Haley's "Roots", chronicling the history of an African man sold to slavery in America, and his descendants.
Did you know
LeVar Burton makes a cameo as the slave Ephraim, who is being transported in the caged wagon from the Waller plantation. He stares at Kunta Kinte. Burton played Kunta Kinte in both Roots (1977) and Roots: The Gift (1988).
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By what name was Roots (2016) officially released in Canada in English?
Marvin J. Chomsky - director
Sheriff Sam Cade of rural Madrid County is targeted for assassination when he is scheduled to testify against a man kingpin.
Robert Reed
Joey Evans (Frank Sinatra) is charming, handsome, funny, and talented. When Joey meets the former chorus girl and now is the rich widow, Vera Simpson (Rita Hayworth), the pair of lecherous souls seem made for each other.
John Amos
Akeem and Semmi are back! Set in the lush and royal country of Zamunda, newly-crowned King Akeem (Eddie Murphy) and his trusted confidante Semmi (Arsenio Hall) embark on an all-new hilarious adventure that has them traversing the globe from their great African nation to the borough of Queens, New York – where it all began.
Louis Gossett Jr
After a long time in the army, an Afro-American soldier returns to his hometown, where, years ago, his brother was executed for the rape and murder of two white girls. The commando believes his brother to have been innocent and seeks a proof for that, but there are some people in the town who will stop at nothing to hide the secrets of their past.
About the Show
HISTORY® premieres “Roots” on Memorial Day 2016, airing over four consecutive nights at 9 p.m. beginning Monday, May 30, it was announced today by Paul Buccieri, President of A&E and HISTORY.
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What ethnic group is Kunta Kinte from?
It begins with Kunta Kinte, a warrior belonging to the Mandinka ethnic group and living in what is now the Gambia.
What is the Roots series based on?
The miniseries was based on Alex Haley's novel Roots: The Saga of an American Family, which he claimed was based on research he had conducted into his own family history.
How many people watched Roots?
Instead, Roots achieved unprecedented popularity. An estimated 140 million people, accounting for over half of the population of the United States, saw the series, and its finale remains the second-most-watched series finale in American television history.
When did Roots the Next Generations come out?
A sequel miniseries, Roots: The Next Generations, aired in 1979 to impressive ratings and several more award nominations. Some found Roots to be divisive—future president Ronald Reagan opined that "the bias of all the good people being one color and all the bad people being another was rather destructive.".
Who were Kunta's children?
Kunta's daughter, her son George, and his sons Tom and Lewis experience life on various plantations and are subjected to many historically-accurate brutalities, including the separation of enslaved families and harassment from whites after the abolition of slavery.
What is the story of Alex Haley's ancestors?
The epic tale of celebrated Pulitzer-prize winning author Alex Haley's ancestors as portrayed in the acclaimed twelve hour mini-series Roots, was first told in his 1976 bestseller Roots: The Saga of an American Family. The docu-drama covers a period of history that begins in mid-1700s Gambia, West Africa and concludes during post-Civil War United States, over 100 years later. This 1977 miniseries eventually won 9 Emmy awards, a Golden Globe award, and a Peabody award, and still stands as the most watched miniseries in U.S. history.
What is the story of Roots?
Synopsis. The epic tale of celebrated Pulitzer-prize winning author Alex Haley's ancestors as portrayed in the acclaimed twelve hour mini-series Roots, was first told in his 1976 bestseller Roots: The Saga of an American Family. The docu-drama covers a period of history that begins in mid-1700s Gambia, West Africa and concludes during post-Civil ...
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Overview
Broadcast and distribution
In the United States, Roots aired in four installments of approximately two hours each, from May 30 to June 2, 2016, on History, A&E, and Lifetime.
In Canada, in addition to availability on A&E, whose U.S. feed is carried in Canada directly – but not the licensed Canadian versions of History or Lifetime – the series will stream on CraveTV beginning in fall 2016.
Plot
Part 1
In 1767, Kunta Kinte (Malachi Kirby) is a Mandinka warrior from Jufureh in The Gambia, in West Africa. Kunta's family is loyal to the Mandinka king and are resistant to the Europeans. This, however, means the Kinte family faces the danger of reprisal from the rival Koro family, who trade African slaves for English guns. One day, Kunta is taken off into the jungle with other young boys t…
Cast
Number in parentheses indicates how many episodes in which the actor/character appears.
• Malachi Kirby as Kunta Kinte (3)
• Nokuthula Ledwaba as Binta Kinte (2)
• Emayatzy Corinealdi as Belle (2)
Production
The History channel commissioned a remake of the miniseries after acquiring rights from David L. Wolper's son, Mark Wolper, and Alex Haley's estate. The new eight-hour miniseries, with Mark Wolper as executive producer, drew on Haley's novel and the original miniseries albeit from a contemporary perspective. In April 2015, it was announced that along with The History Channel, Lifetime and A&E would also broadcast the remake of the Roots miniseries. Will Packer, Marc Tob…
Reception
Roots received critical acclaim, with praise for the acting abilities of the cast, the faithfulness to the original, and the modern changes. On Rotten Tomatoes, the series has a rating of 98%, based on 41 reviews, with an average rating of 8.31/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "A powerfully impressive – and still relevant – update on a television classic, Roots boasts remarkable performances, deep emotion, and occasionally jarring beauty." On Metacritic the series has a sco…
See also
• List of films featuring slavery
External links
• Roots (2016) at IMDb
• Official website