Tapes on this page: 4 new
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man, had moved into The Gambia.
Taking two Mandinka maidens as wives,
their names being Sireng and Yaisa,
he had fathered three sons, Janneh,
Saloum and Omoro. Janneh and
Saloum reached manhood, then left
home and founded a new village.
Omoro, the youngest, when he was 30
"reigns" of age, took as a wife Binta
Kebba, who bore him four sons, Kunta,
Lamin, Suwadu and Madi.
And now: "-about the time the
King's soldiers came, Kunta, went away from
this village to chop wood-and he was
never seen again." I sat transfixed.
The griot's words dovetailed with
Grandma's and the other old ladies'
stories told during my boyhood about
our foreparent named "Kintay," who
always had said he had been surprised
and kidnapped while chopping wood.
With emotions rising, I thrust my
notebook at an interpreter. He ex-
citedly explained to the griot, who be-
came greatly agitated and talked rapid-
ly to the people. Within moments the
70-odd of them had encircled me. They
were chanting, dancing; and shortly
one mother after another dashed in
toward me, each thrusting forth her
infant, whom I briefly embraced. They
were expressing, it was explained to
me later, "the laying on of hands"
("Through our flesh, we are you, and
you are us")
After a while, I felt that, emotionally,
I could bear no more. I left the village
with a driver in a Land Rover-to dis-
cover with astonishment that news of
what had happened back in Juffure
had preceded us to a larger village
along the back-country road. Probably
more than 200 of the jet-black people
came jostling about the Land Rover,
waving at me, crying out, "Meester
Kinte! Meester Kinte!" I am a man,
but I began weeping like some baby.
I returned to the U.S. and my first
telephone call brought sad news: Cousin
Georgia had passed away. Later, read-
ing a hospital report, and transposing
time zones from Kansas City to West
Africa, I realized that she had died
literally within the hour that I had ar-
rived in Juffure. I can only feel that
since Cousin Georgia was the last sur-
vivor of those who had told the family
story on Grandma's front porch, it had
been her job to see me to the ances-
tral village, whereupon she, too, joined
Grandma and all the rest whom she
said were up there watchin' me-as I
feel they have indeed been doing
across the ensuing dozen years that it
has taken me to research and write
"Roots."
Black readers of the book write or
speak to me emotionally of feeling a
new sense of our people's long-
obscured, rich history, while white read-
ers write or speak to me of the sagas
of their own families from whatever was
their peoples' Old Country. Personally,
I like to consider that "Roots" speaks
of the American human drama, in which
ancestrally we all came from some-
where across the ocean.
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REEL 1490. ROOTS (Soundtrack)
(90) ROOTS "The Triumph of an American Family" Part 1. 1/23/77
(30) ROOTS "The Triumph of an American Family" Part 1. concluded.
(60) ROOTS "The Slave Ship- sold into Slavery" Part 2. 1/24/77
(60) ROOTS "The Slave Ship- sold into Slavery" Part 2. concluded.
(30) ROOTS "The Second Generation" Part 3. 1/25/77
(30) ROOTS "The Second Generation" Part 3. concluded.
(60) ROOTS "Kizzy & her son 'Chicken' George" Part 4. 1/26/77
REEL 1491. ROOTS (Soundtrack)
(60) ROOTS Part 5. 1/27/77
(30) ROOTS Part 6. 1/28/77
(90) ROOTS Part 6. concluded.
(60) ROOTS Part 7. 1/29/77
(30) ROOTS "A free Chicken George reunited." Part 8. 1/30/77
(60) ROOTS "The Final Triumph- Freedom!" Part 8. Concluded.
(30) ROOTS: THE NEXT GENERATIONS: (Sequel) Sequel 1. 2/18/79
REEL 1492. ROOTS: THE NEXT GENERATIONS (Soundtracks)
(90) ROOTS: THE NEXT GENERATIONS: Sequel 1. Concluded. 2/18/79
(90) ROOTS: THE NEXT GENERATIONS: Sequel 2. 2/19/79
(90) ROOTS: THE NEXT GENERATIONS: Sequel 3. 2/20/79
(90) ROOTS: THE NEXT GENERATIONS: Sequel 4. 2/21/79
REEL 1493. ROOTS: THE NEXT GENERATIONS (Soundtracks)
(30) ROOTS: THE NEXT GENERATIONS: Sequel 4. concluded. 2/21/79
(60) ROOTS: THE NEXT GENERATIONS: Sequel 5. 2/22/79
(90) ROOTS: THE NEXT GENERATIONS: Sequel 6. 2/23/79
(60) ROOTS: THE NEXT GENERATIONS: Sequel 7. Conclusion. 2/25/79
Nb. For those with Beta-format video recorders: I have this entire ROOTS series, the original and sequel, on video-tape.
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ROOTS
8:00 PM
Return: This adaptation of Alex Haley's best seller won five Emmys (including Outstanding Limited Series), attracted more viewers than any other program in TV history and established the miniseries as a going concern. So much for its significance. Here is the story "Roots" depicts a century in the Haley-family history-from his ancestors' life in 18th-century tribal Africa to their emancipation in the post-Civil War South. It begins in Africa with the birth of Kunta Kinte, Haley's great-great-great-grandfather. For Kunta, village life is simple but rich in tradition. But when he's 17, his carefree life ends abruptly: he's kidnapped, chained and sent to America. The series continues through this week. Cast (Part 1) Kunta: LeVar Burton. Kunta's Mother: Cicely Tyson. Kunta's Father: Thalmus Rasulala. Davies: Edward Asner. Slater: Ralph Waite. Wrestler: Ji-Tu Cumbuka. Brima Cesay: Harry Rhodes. Fanta: Ren Woods. Nyo Boto: Maya Angelou. Kintango: Moses Gunn. Kadi Touray: O.J. Simpson. (2 hrs.)
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Alex Haley, author of Roots.
ROOTS: THE NEXT GENERATIONS
7 PM
Debut: A seven-part sequel to the miniseries that attracted more viewers than any other in TV history. Picking up where "Roots" left off, "Roots: The Next Generations" spans 88 years in Alex Haley's family history and recounts a strife-torn chronicle of racial pride and prejudice, and political machinations over civil-rights issues. Part 1 opens in 1882 in Henning, Tenn., where domestic dramas embroil two families. Haley's great-grandfather, a poor blacksmith named Tom Harvey (Georg Stanford Brown), raises objections to his daughter's suitor, a fair-skinned Negro. On the other side of the tracks, a prominent attorney named Colonel Warner (Henry Fonda) faces a crisis with his son Jim (Richard Thomas), who is in love with a black schoolteacher (Fay Hauser). The series continues on the next five nights and concludes on Sunday, Feb. 25. Elizabeth: Debbi Morgan. Irene Harvey: Lynne Moody. Mrs. Warner: Olivia de Havilland. Andy Warner: Marc Singer. Chicken George Moore: Avon Long. John Dolan: Brian Mitchell. Beeman Jones: Greg Morris. Earl Crowther: Paul Kosio. Cynthia: Cynthia Sye. (2 hrs.)
Georg Stanford Brown