Alex Haley's 1976 novel Roots tells the story of Kunta Kinte, an African teen kidnapped from his Gambian home and sold into slavery in an 18th-century United States. Throughout his life, Kunta Kinte struggles to accept his fate, constantly trying to escape, incurring the wrath of masters, auctioneers, and hunters and refusing to interact with the other slaves. It isn't until he falls in with Bell, a black cook, that he finally begins to understand that his past life is forever behind him. The story then follows the life of his daughter, Kizzy, as well the five generations that come after her. Over the decades, Kunta's descendants struggle to find their place as blacks in America but ultimately persevere.
The Pulitzer Prize-winning work became an international phenomenon, sparking the 1977 television miniseries, as well as the more recent 2016 History Channel miniseries.
