Roots (1977)
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.
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Let's start here: racism demeans us all.

It obviously limits those it is perpetrated against. No one could hope to make a comprehensive list of the ways that racism harms non-whites. It takes so many forms, from stereotyping, institutional prejudice, racially charged violence, insensitivity, legal disparities, hiring discrimination, perceptions being altered by media and language, assumptive behavior and thought, active and passive, and so on. It's huge. It's complex (not to contradict myself; I still maintain its heart is simply that white people, through social, political, and economic power structures, perpetrated and created racism out of a drive that is irrational and malignant). It's myriad forms create a world in which difference, no matter how superficial, no matter how significant,…

What better way to celebrate the 4th of July than by watching one of the most important stories in American history?

ROOTS is a groundbreaking television miniseries that truly paved the way for what this medium could do upon first airing in 1977. Yet, despite so often hearing about it, I had never watched it before now.

ROOTS tells the story of the African American experience, beginning in Gambia, West Africa in 1750, through slavery, and several further generations in the family of author Alex Haley. While somewhat dated by its low budget and campy moments (the scenes in Gambia feel very small-scale, and I'm not sure just how accurate the depiction of the tribal Mandinka life is), ROOTS remains…

The landmark iconic original series that is still powerful enough to resonate today. Hard to believe that this country both black and white sat down 8 straight days to watch this. Tell me we are moving in the right direction in our society in my life time? I have seen this a half dozen times and read the book multiple times. Not only is it a great story about slavery, but family and struggle. It’s not only important for place in history, both in on screen depiction and for January 1977 America, but it is just flat out good television. Many things done in 1977 would have been tough on 21st century viewers it can be difficult to watch, but…

If you want to help me out, and read the very same review as featured here, only with screenshots included, click here!!

I think it's worth prefacing this review with a few things, so forgive me is I do ramble a little before getting things underway. Feel free to scroll a little further down to get to the review, I just wish to speak first of a few important factors that this brought to mind, as well as my journey to seeing such a piece.

Surprisingly, I hadn't heard of this miniseries until quite recently. I have been researching black history in general for a little while, something that - as many of you will know - was really sparked…