Alex Haley (3:55)

From Noiser and Airship I'm Lindsey Graham and this is History.

Jorge Gaviria (3:59)

Daily.

Alex Haley (4:16)

History is made every day on this podcast. Every day we tell the true stories of the people and events that shaped our world. Today is January 23rd, 1977, the television premiere of Roots. It's May 1967 in Jufir, a village in the Gambia ten years before Roots first screens on American television. 45 year old American journalist Alex Haley lays a tape recorder on a table and opens his notebook. Then he looks up and gives his interviewee a smile. But the elderly man on the other side of the table doesn't notice. Instead, he's staring at the tape recorder with a puzzled expression. Alex picks it up and hands it to the old man. He tells his interviewee that the tape recorder will record his words and it'll help Alex to write his story when he returns home. Three years ago, Alex began researching his family history. As a black American, Alex knew that his ancestors were enslaved, but he wanted to find out who they were before they were taken across the ocean. Hoping to write up the story as a book, he scoured archives and libraries until he managed to plot his ancestry to the Kinte clan that originated in West Africa. There, Alex heard rumors about an old man with an encyclopedic knowledge of the families of the Gambia. And now Alex has tracked that man down and he's eager to find out more about his ancestors. After taking the tape recorder back, Alex presses a button and then asks the man what he knows about the Kinte clan. The man settles back in his chair and begins. Alex quickly realizes that the rumors were correct. This man has a vast knowledge of local history. He speaks for hours about the various members of the Kinte clan as Alex takes detailed notes. One tale in particular captures Alex's imagination. The old man tells the story of the capture of a Kinte tribesman by an African gang collaborating with slave traders. According to the old man's account, Kunta Kinte had wandered into a forest to gather firewood when he was attacked by four men and knocked unconscious. When he came to, he found he was bound and gagged, the prisoner of a slave trader who transported him to America. When the old man finishes talking, Alex realizes that that he was so engrossed in the story of Kunta that he'd stopped taking notes. Thankfully, he has the tapes. And when Alex listens to them again, he's certain Kunta Kinte will be the perfect main character for his book. Now he just needs to write it. But that's easier said than done. Alex has immersed himself in his family's history for the last three years, and he struggles to know when to stop researching. He repeatedly visits the Library of Congress to study, scour the archives for information about the slave ship that transported his ancestors to America. And then he travels to Virginia and even England to find out more about his family's enslavers. But the further Alex digs into his ancestry, the more complex the story becomes, and one discovery threatens to derail the entire project. Several experts claim that the old man who told Alex about the life of Kunta Kinte is not a reliable source of information. They advise Alex to return to the Gambia and interview more people to resolve contradictions in the original account. Alex has been working on his book for eight years, and he feels that it's too late to make major changes to the story now. The manuscript he calls Roots is already long overdue at the publisher, and Alex has neither the money nor the heart to start all over again. Instead, he tells himself that he isn't hiding the fact that this is a fictionalized version of his family history. So he doesn't think his readers will mind a few examples of dramatic license. As long as the story captures their attention, Alex's hopes prove correct. In 1974, an early excerpt of Roots is published in the monthly magazine Reader's Digest. Dozens of people then write in to ask when the book will be released. And a Hollywood producer is so impressed by the excerpt that he asks Alex for the rights to adapt Roots for television. Alex is thrilled, but there's a catch. The producer has heard Alex has been working on Roots for more than 10 years, and the book still isn't finished. So he offers Alex a weighted deal. He'll pay $50,000 up front to secure the rights, but the bulk of the money, another 200,000, will only be paid to Alex when he finishes the book. This deal will motivate Alex to push on and finally finish Roots. At the end of 1975, he'll hand over his final manuscript to the publisher. Work to adapt the story for television will begin almost immediately, but the producers of the TV version of this epic tale will soon find that filming Roots will be almost as difficult as writing it.

Lindsey Graham (9:03)

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Alex Haley (9:53)

Today.

Lindsey Graham (9:54)

Paid non client endorsement compensation provides incentive to positively promote Acorns Tier 2 compensation, provided investing involves risk. Acorns Advisors LLC and SEC registered investment advisor. View important disclosures@acorns.com HistoryDaily Ladies and gentlemen.

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Alex Haley (11:19)

It's April 1976 in Georgia, one year after author Alex Haley finished writing Roots. 19 year old LeVar Burton paces in his hotel room, a film script in his hand. His eyes scan the words on the paper, but Levar isn't really taking them in. Instead, he's merely worried. No matter how many times he reads through the script, Levar is struggling to remember his lines. A few months ago, Lavar spotted an ad inviting actors to audition for a screen adaptation of Alex Haley's Roots. Although Lavar was a novice actor with only one film credit to his name, he was cast in the pivotal role of the young Kunta Kinte. It's Lavar's job to portray Kunta as he's kidnapped and sold into slavery. But filming is due to begin tomorrow and Lavar's feeling the pressure of being part of a big budget production for the first time. So Lavar tries to push any negative thoughts from his mind and refocus on just the script. But he's only read a couple of lines aloud before there's a knock at the door. Glad for the distraction, Levar opens the door and finds Alex Haley himself standing in the hallway. After exchanging greetings, Alex hands Levar an advance copy of the book Roots. Although it's still not available in stores, Alex says he wants all all the actors to have a copy. During filming, he tells Lavar that he's bookmarked a passage that he wants him to study and wishes him the best for the start of filming tomorrow. After seeing Alex off, Levar opens his copy of Roots at the page Alex had marked. It's one of the story's most profound early scenes, describing Kunta's experience as a captive on a slave ship while crossing the Atlantic Ocean. As Levar reads Alex's description description of the nightmarish voyage, he realizes that his performance won't just rely on him remembering his lines. He needs to capture the emotions and feelings of despair that the enslaved Africans must have gone through. And when filming begins the next day, Lavar is immediately thrust into an emotionally taxing scene portraying Kunta's capture. But the nerves he felt yesterday have gone. Lavar has been inspired by Alex's writing. And when the first scene is finished, the director makes his way over and congratulates levar on a great performance. But that scene is not the last challenge Lavar will face over the next few weeks. He depicts Kunta's voyage across the ocean in a slave ship and a brutal moment in which Kunta is savagely whipped. These are difficult scenes for an inexperienced actor, but Lavar can rely on the help and advice of the rest of the cast. Oscar nominated actors James Earl Jones and Cicely Tyson have agreed to take on roles, while the cast also includes prominent writer Maya Angelou and NFL superstar turned actor O.J. simpson. But LaVar and the other actors can't help noticing a racial imbalance in the production. The majority of the show's cast is black, but all its directors and producers are white. The actors aren't the only ones to spot the disparity either. As the first month of filming comes to a close, criticism mounts from civil rights groups. In response, the producers hire more black talent to take roles behind the camera. Gilbert Moses is employed as a director, while Joseph Wilcox is appointed director of photography. These new hires help dispel the criticism, but some black pundits still suggest the showrunner's worrying lack of sensitivity does not bode well for the finished product. And it's not just the TV production that's dogged by controversy. Five months after filming begins, Alex Haley's book is finally published. Roots spends the next 46 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list. But questions arise about the authenticity of Alex's research. It's suggested that he base the story of Kunta Kinte on the words of an unreliable African storyteller. Alex defends his work and insist that Roots has always been a blend of historical research and fictional storytelling. But the ongoing controversy spooks executives at television studio abc. They worry that their adaptation of Roots will flop after the intense and often critical media coverage of the book. So studio bosses meet to discuss the show's future. After much debate, they decide to go ahead with the premiere of Roots. But in case it bombs, they plan to air the eight episodes on consecutive evenings to get it over with quickly. And as the show's debut approaches, the controversy over it will grow. All the executives at ABC will be able to do now is cross their fingers and hope for the best.

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Alex Haley (16:52)

It'S the evening of January 23rd, 1977, in South Carolina, six months after Roots was released in bookstores. As 10 year old Zenobia Harper plays with dolls in her living room, she hears her mother call out her name. Zenobia takes a comfortable spot on the carpet in front of the television. As her mother bustles in with an overflowing bowl of popcorn, Zenobia looks up at the TV screen expectantly. This is normally her bedtime, but her mother had her take a nap earlier so she could stay up late tonight, so whatever show is about to start must be special. A few minutes later, Zenobia is already engrossed in the action taking place on screen. A cry of pain comes from a thatched hut as a woman gives birth. Zenobia's mom claps excitedly as she points out that one of the women playing the midwives is the famous writer Maya Angelou. Then another baby's cry rings out, and the newborn's father holds him up to show him the vast night sky. The young boy's name is Kunta Kinte. Zenobia and her mother are not the only people introduced to Kunta. At this moment, 50 million other Americans tune in for the premiere of Roots, and viewing figures only increase from there. Over the next week, the show becomes the hot topic of conversation across the country, and by the time the finale airs, a record audience of 100 million people are watching. Not every viewer enjoys the series, though, and its success does not dismiss all the controversy surrounding it. The television show reopens the debate over the authenticity and accuracy of Alex Haley's story, and some experts feel that the series oversimplifies a complex and nuanced historical subject. But these debates do not diminish the cultural importance of Roots. The book and its screen adaptation tackle the topic of slavery at a time when its true horrors were often minimized or overlooked, and the series embedded black history in mainstream American popular culture for perhaps the first time in the decades since its release. Roots has had sequels and remakes, but none have matched the impact of the original, which millions of Americans tuned in to watch on January 23, 1977. Next on History Daily January 24, 1908 the Boy Scout movement begins after the publication of Robert Baden Powell's book Scouting for Boys from Noiser and Airship. This is History Daily hosted, edited and executive produced by me, Lindsey Graham Audio editing by Mohammed Shazid sound design by Matthew Fuller music by Thrum. This episode is written and researched by Reuben Abrams Brosby edited by Scott Reeves Managing producer Emily Byrd Executive producers are William Simpson for Airship and Pascal Hughes for Nouser.

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