Kunta's Story

Last week I started my read a book a week campaign. My first book is Alex Haley’s Roots: The Saga of an American Family. The book is a fictionalized account of his family’s history, starting with the story of Kunta Kinte, an African stolen from the Gambia and sold into American slavery. I’m about halfway done with this 688 page epic. Haley paints a perfect picture of the mental and physical brutality of slavery. You feel Kinte’s disgrace as he’s forcefully transported from the Gambia to Virginia. You share his hate as he stares into the eyes of the screaming Whites at the slave auction as they poke and prod his genitals as they declare him a proper stud for work and mating. You feel his pain as the leather whip cuts through his bare flesh, exposing his tender blood soaked muscles. You feel hopeless as he feels hopeless, knowing that he may never return home and knowing that he’s regarded as inconsequential property.

This book is a true American classic, published in thirty-seven languages, won the Pulitzer Prize and became a popular television miniseries in 1977, reaching a record-breaking 130 million viewers.