Kunta Kinte. What do those two words bring to mind? For most of us, a third word. Roots. From that, the name of Toby Waller, the American name that Kunta Kinte adopted. From that will come the name Alex Haley, author of the book that led to a TV miniseries of the same name.
For those who found the book intimidating — it’s 912 pages long — or even for those who didn’t, the miniseries became compelling watching, spread over (as we recall) eight episodes. Nobody dared to miss one, and each was two hours, as we also recall. In those days (1977), there were no PVRs or DVRs, and few if any VHS or Beta machines. In other words, you watched a mammoth series like this live, or not at all.
Yes, there is a cruise connection to this story. It’s coming.
The book made Haley famous. The TV series introduced or re-introduced a lot of name actors. Lou Gossett Jr. Cicely Tyson. Edward Asner. Lorne Greene. Ben Vereen. John Amos. Leslie Uggams. Georg Stanford Brown. Sandy Duncan. Chuck Connors. Lloyd Bridges. O.J. Simpson.
It won nine Emmys (nominated for 36), a Golden Globe and a Peabody Award. It was the third-highest rated American TV show in history. Everybody talked about it, because it brought the “roots” of black Americans to white America in an emotional, moving and — for that era — provocative way.
Oh yes, cruising…
From December through March, Variety Cruises takes 42 passengers to Kunta Kinte’s roots, which are up the Gambia River in West Africa. A writer from the Detroit Free Press, Ellen Creager, went on the cruise and her works have been published in the Free Press and other papers.
If you remember Roots, if you like cruising and if you found the first seven paragraphs of this interesting, her story is a must read. You’ll find it by clicking here.