Roots | American television miniseries
Roots encyclopedia encyclopeadia britannica article
Other articles where Roots is discussed: African Americans: Television and film: …television’s most-watched dramatic telecasts was Roots, an eight-part miniseries first shown in 1977. A sequel, the seven-part Roots: The Next Generations, appeared in 1979. Based on author Alex Haley’s real-life quest to trace his African ancestry, the shows made other African Americans more aware of their rich cultural heritage.
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Encyclopedia Britannica
Roots

American television miniseries

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African American history

In African Americans: Television and film

…television’s most-watched dramatic telecasts was Roots, an eight-part miniseries first shown in 1977. A sequel, the seven-part Roots: The Next Generations, appeared in 1979. Based on author Alex Haley’s real-life quest to trace his African ancestry, the shows made other African Americans more aware of their rich cultural heritage.

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African American literature

In African American literature: African American roots

…storm when, as a 1977 television miniseries, it attracted the largest audience yet for a feature film about Black Americans. Subsequent novels returned to the slavery era to retrieve lost or suppressed heroes and heroines, as in Sherley Anne Williams’s Dessa Rose (1986), or to effect healing and self-awareness in…

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American Broadcasting Company

In American Broadcasting Company: Focus on television

…years, notably the blockbuster miniseries Roots (1977). ABC also earned praise as the first network to hire a woman (Barbara Walters) to anchor its nightly newscast, although its news division did not fully blossom until the advent of the current-events series 20/20 (1978– ) and Nightline (1980– ).

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contribution by Jones

In Quincy Jones

…wrote for the television miniseries Roots (1977). He received a Kennedy Center Honor in 2001 and the National Medal of Arts in 2010. In 2013 Jones was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

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impact on U.S. television history

In Television in the United States: The era of the miniseries

Roots, an ambitious 12-hour adaptation of Alex Haley’s novel, aired on 8 consecutive nights in January 1977. It was based on Haley’s reconstructed family history from the capture of his ancestors in West Africa in the 18th century through slavery and emancipation in the United…

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production by Wolper

In David Wolper

…work, most notably the miniseries Roots (1977).

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role of

Asner

In Ed Asner

…slave-ship captain Thomas Davies in Roots, the groundbreaking television miniseries based on Alex Haley’s “saga of an American family.” Asner’s Davies was a sympathetic white character who was invented for the miniseries to ease the viewing experience. His character served to counteract the horrific treatment endured by the slaves, which…

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Gossett

In Louis Gossett, Jr.

…in the acclaimed television miniseries Roots (1977) and reprised the role in the 1988 TV movie Roots: The Gift.

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Tyson

In Cicely Tyson

…roles in the television miniseries Roots (1977; based on Alex Haley’s book) and The Women of Brewster Place (1989; based on Gloria Naylor’s novel) before winning another Emmy for her performance in the TV movie Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All (1994). She then starred as the title character in…

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