Roots: Thirty Years of Rediscovering History

One TV show reached 130 million Americans during a week's broadcast, in January 1977. That's 70% of the country! No fictionalized drama, before or since, garnered such an audience.**

The success of Roots was unprecedented, and it dramatically changed how Americans of all races thought about history.

**The last episode of MASH in 1983 scored higher in ratings--but that was a 30-minute comedy show ending a long run. Even so, it did not beat Roots' final episode in ratings share.

Alex Haley researched his family history and wrote the book Roots, which won a Pulitzer Prize. Whether its research is sound and absolutely factual is still debated, but it tells a story that most Americans hadn't heard: a family history of African Americans rising out of bondage.

Haley's publisher, Doubleday, planned to print 50,000 copies of the book. The miniseries was being planned at the same time, though, and producer David Wolper told the powers-that-be at Doubleday that "between me and the network, we could give away that many books."

Doubleday increased its print run to 300,000 for September 1976. The TV series ran four months later. By March, 1977, two million hardcover copies of Roots had been sold.

To film a 12-hour miniseries, the producers used eight different directors. Each hour, on average, took 21 days to film.

Everyone wanted to be involved: poet Maya Angelouplayed Kunta Kinte's grandmother in Africa. O.J. Simpsontook a role. (these links are to Internet Movie DataBase filmographies and bios).

TV mega-stars like Ed Asner, Lorne Greene (of Bonanza), Vic Morrow, Sandy Duncan, Lloyd Bridges; movie stars Richard Rountree, George Hamilton, Yvonne deCarlo, Yaphet Kotto, Cecily Tyson; Stage stars Ben Vareen, Burl Ives, Leslie Uggams--the list goes on and on. Most memorable perhaps was a USC film student named LeVar Burton, who opened the series with his dramatic capture by slavers in Africa.

Roots dominated the Emmy Awards. The show won for music, directing, editing, and writing. Louis Gossett won Best Actor, Ed Asner won Best Supporting Actor, and Olivia Cole won Best Supporting Actress. The nominees (most competing against others from the series) would fill this page. Rootsalso received the Directors Guild Award, Golden Globes, Humanitas Prize, and the Peabody Award.

The U.S. Bicentennial, celebrated in 1976, focused on the patriotic and heroic deeds of white men, as most American history always had. Roots set that model on its head. People of all races connected emotionally with the family in Roots, who suffered capture, chains, rape, beatings, maimings, separations, betrayals, and countless other indignities before gaining their freedom after the Civil War.

People learned more about slavery and its impact than they ever had in school. The show also sparked a nationwide passion for genealogy that crossed all racial lines. In colleges, Black Studies programs and classes gained popularity.

The Museum of Broadcast Communication has more detailed information about Roots.