The behind the series special ran tonight. The narrator was very careful to say Alex Hayley thought his ancestor was Kunta Kinta. They didn’t acknowledge that today most historians feel that he wasn’t. I realize it isn’t that crucial to know exactly which African is his ancestor. That person would have endured a similar experience. It’s the difference in a documentary and a docudrama.
The production team enlisted the aid of 9 historians to make corrections from the original. But, they didn’t say anything about hiring a professional Genealogist? You’d think that with all the new digitized records that researching the family again would make academic sense. They researched slave ship design, costumes, African music, and other things. But accepted Hayley’s 45 year old genealogical research (from the early 1970’s). Interesting decision. But, I’m doubt a remake could have significantly changed the major characters and still been accepted by the public. They were pretty much stuck with the book’s story.
History channel deserves credit for attempting a project this large and expensive. ABC was a major network and had a bigger viewership than any network today. They estimate 36 million saw the Roots finale in 1977. That’s a lot of advertising dollars.
Genealogists and Historians have checked Hayley’s research. But I don’t think the remake production team used any of it.
Hayley’s response, isn’t that of an academic. Never heard anybody seriously suggest oral history is superior to actual written records. Wasn’t it vital that a clear record of ownership and births (of slaves) got filed with the local government? Just like land ownership? Otherwise, there would be legal disputes and court battles.
It’s a rare African-American who actually can trace his roots back before the civil war. The fact is, census rolls just listed slaves by age and gender. No names. So, it’s a big dead end that often can’t be circumvented. Some slave owning families, of course, kept slave registries and some of those have survived, but not many.
What could be done is DNA testing of Haley or one of his relatives compared to descendants of the Lea family to see if there is evidence of one of the Leas fathering a Haley ancestor.
Just looked at Tom Murray and George Lea in the 1880 Census of Jenning, Lauderdale Co., Tennessee. Tom is a blacksmith, George is a servant, neither can read or write (nor can Tom’s wife, Irene).
Does anyone know personally any African Americans who can trace their ancestry back like this? I know some do get together and hold reunions in or near the plantations where their lineage started.
I would think of Haley (born in 1921), as old as he was, his grandparents should have known of his ancestry at least back to Chicken George. In fact their were still living in his day, some former slaves.
Well, some of Sally Hemmings’ descendants have been shown by DNA testing to be related to the Jefferson family (although not definitively to Thomas). I’ve read of some others doing so, but don’t remember the details of who they were.
I had to cringe a little when they introduced the girl with “Cherokee Hair”. Again, a common belief in many black families, but almost always incorrect. I’m going to chalk up that last scene where Chicken George kills the plantation owner’s son as bad editing. Surely the writers didn’t just leave a gaping hole like that as to how the family was allowed to just leave after that…
Haley’s brother’s son had a Y line DNA testing done a while back that did prove a paternal connection to an overseer on an Alabama plantation. ROOTS was about his maternal line.
I have some Leas in my ancestry; I’m not a descendant of Tom Lea and haven’t found (or looked) for him in my relations, but we could well have a common ancestor. I’d be interested to know if any of our sequences match.
Which didn’t work. A large part of Queen’s story was that she was able to pass for white and did upon occasion, which Halle Berry- while light skinned- cannot. (She is very obviously biracial and that would be even more obvious to 19th century southerners.) Haley himself, who died before the novel was finished or the movie was cast, said that casting an actress would be a problem for this very reason.
It’s much the same reason casting Julie is problematic in productions of Showboat. She is usually cast with a white actress, which of course causes its own controversy.
Yes, I remember watching it and she was not convincing as someone who could “pass”. But I can understand them wanting someone with star power (I think she had star power even back then) in the cast. It is the way of Hollywood…