100 million people were glued to their TVs for the series finale, which was a turning point

On January 23, 1977, ABC aired the first episode of the miniseries Roots in the United States, adapted from the novel of the same name by Alex Hale. Little did the channel know at the time that the show would become one of television’s biggest hits and its finale would be watched by 100 million viewers worldwide. Historical figures!

It is estimated that 85% of households with a television watched at least one of its eight episodes every evening between January 23 and 30, 1977. in the 1700s and was forcibly taken to America. Rasins explores his journey at different times in his life.

Roots is one of our 5 Must See or Rewatch Movies and TV Shows About the Slave Trade

Racines is one of the first works intended for the general public in which whites are presented as villains and contrasted with blacks, the true heroes of the story, without reducing them to the status of victims.

Although The Jeffersons, a pioneering sitcom, had been around for two years, sometimes dealing with deep themes related to African-American culture and history, Roots, from its producer David L. Wolper’s hand introduced the “filmed documentary” aspect and is believed to have turned to drama to directly address the history of the African people.

Media specialist Adrienne Sebro analyzed CNN In 2023: “It was instrumental in how we watched television; black life, how black people came to America, was told truthfully. It set the stage for the depth and breadth of storytelling that ‘could be seen on television.’

THE success The series was such that it spawned several spin-off series over the years. First Roots: New Generations from 1979, with Debbie Morgan, Dorian Harewood and guests Henry Fonda, Pam Grier, Olivia de Havilland and Marlon Brando, then Roots: The Gift, with the return of Levar Burton. A new adaptation of the novel was released in a miniseries in 2016, with Malachi Kirby as Kunta Kinte.

Legacy: An example of rap

This character has also had a second life in rap music, in the US and France. Since 1992, Pass has been written in the title cursed From the Ministry of AMER: “Do I have a right to the land in my home? Did our ancestors have rights, or has this pattern been cursed once again by people like Kunta Kinte, before your laws?” I AM Sign the part directly Temperament kunta kinte In 1997:

Irons on our hands, chains on our feet, we drag the ball / (…) embittered inhabitants of the slave ship / servants of our slavery, armed with kunta kinte / illiterate wild nicknames.

In 1999, Bisso Na Bisso was chosen by the collective The seeds as the title of his first album. in the song Kunta Kinte – Child of Destiny (2012), rapper Maddin devotes more than 7 minutes to the history of the character and the symbol of slavery that he now represents. Back in 2023, rapper Slcrak released a title straight out of the series, symbolically titled… Kunta Kinte.