The impact of Roots ... 30 years later
Thirty years ago I was an 11-year-old growing up in West London. One evening I sat down with my family to watch a new television programme called Roots.
It was a moment that changed my life. By the end of the series I had told my mother that I would one day trace my heritage back to Africa and reclaim an ancestral name. Before I watched the programme I was called Ian Roberts but now my name is Kwame Kwei-Armah.
Roots was a novel based on the writer Alex Haley's family history. It started in Africa with a young man called Kunte Kinte being captured by slavers. It followed him as he was transportedto America and sold into slavery. It then focused on his descendants all the way down to Alex Haley.
Many doubted that Roots would do well on television. David Wolper, the producer, had problems selling it to a network.
"Roots did not sound like a good idea - at the beginning, here's a story where the blacks are the heroes and the whites are the villains, in a country that's 90% white and 10% black."
To soften the "blow", a new, sympathetic white character was added to the story - conscience-stricken boat captain Thomas Davies.
But when it was broadcast in January 1977 Roots was a phenomenon. It was watched by over 100 million people. It became the most watched programme ever. It is still in the top three only surpassed by the last episode of Mash and the "who shot JR?" episode of Dallas.
Read entire article at Kwame Kwei-Armah at the BBC website
It was a moment that changed my life. By the end of the series I had told my mother that I would one day trace my heritage back to Africa and reclaim an ancestral name. Before I watched the programme I was called Ian Roberts but now my name is Kwame Kwei-Armah.
Roots was a novel based on the writer Alex Haley's family history. It started in Africa with a young man called Kunte Kinte being captured by slavers. It followed him as he was transportedto America and sold into slavery. It then focused on his descendants all the way down to Alex Haley.
Many doubted that Roots would do well on television. David Wolper, the producer, had problems selling it to a network.
"Roots did not sound like a good idea - at the beginning, here's a story where the blacks are the heroes and the whites are the villains, in a country that's 90% white and 10% black."
To soften the "blow", a new, sympathetic white character was added to the story - conscience-stricken boat captain Thomas Davies.
But when it was broadcast in January 1977 Roots was a phenomenon. It was watched by over 100 million people. It became the most watched programme ever. It is still in the top three only surpassed by the last episode of Mash and the "who shot JR?" episode of Dallas.