Roots The Movie Essay

Roots is a television miniseries that first aired in 1977. It was based on a book written in 1967 by Alex Haley. It is the story of Alex Haley’s family that traced back all the way into his African roots. It starts off with a young man named Kunta Kinte who was born in a small village in Gambia, Africa. As a teenager, Kunta is captured and travels into the depths of slavery in the US for many generations of Haley’s family. The miniseries has been the most popular and watched film of all-time. The visual presentation is very eye-opening, jaw-dropping, and disturbing to watch how slavery went on for many generations. I never knew Slaves were treated as bad as they were in the film Roots. The three most important lessons learned about slavery, …show more content…
The whites compacted as much slaves as they could under the deck. The slaves barely got any time to go up on the deck to get fresh air. On the deck the slaves were washed and they were forced to dance. They were whipped if they didn’t do what they were told to do. Under the deck, the slaves were chained down too little bunk bed type shelves. It was very hot and smelly down there. If a slave threw up or died, the whites wouldn’t do anything. The other slaves would have to suffer with the terrible stench. It would be one of the most horrible and disturbing experiences to be on the bottom half of that …show more content…
In Africa, the Mandinka tribe was just like other civilized town or counties. It wasn’t as civilized, but it had a good base. They had music, tools, hunting skills, dancing, food and shelter, some clothes, and some education. The whites really didn’t know and they treated them like they were a stupid animal. They called them savages and the “n” word. The slaves were not treated the way they were supposed to be treated. The whites thought they were in charge of everyone and they claimed that they had the most power. This was not fair to any of the