My thinking about Roots as an example of the importance, contradictions, and limitations of mass culture is influenced by Eric Lott, Love and Theft: Blackface Minstrelsy and the American Working Class (New York: Oxford University Press, 1993); David Reynolds, Mightier Than the Sword: Uncle Tom’s Cabin and the Battle for America (New York: W.W. Norton, 2012); Joanne Sharp, Condensing the Cold War: Reader’s Digest and American Identity (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2000); Christina Klein, Cold War Orientalism: Asia in the Middlebrow Imagination, 1945–1961 (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2003); Lizabeth Cohen, A Consumers’ Republic: The Politics of Mass Consumption in Postwar America (New York: Vintage, 2003); Susan Smulyan, Popular Ideologies: Mass Culture at Mid-century (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2010); Tom Perrin, The Aesthetics of Middlebrow Fiction: Popular US Novels, Modernism, and Form, 1945–1975 (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2015); Joan Shelley Rubin, The Making of Middlebrow Culture (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1992); and Lawrence Levine, Highbrow/Lowbrow: The Emergence of Cultural Hierarchy in America (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1990).
Finally, I have benefited from works on the culture and politics of 1970s America, such as Matthew Frye Jacobson, Roots Too: White Ethnic Revival in Post–Civil Rights America (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2008); Jefferson Cowie, Stayin’ Alive: The 1970s and the Last Days of the Working Class (New York: New Press, 2010); Rick Perlstein, The Invisible Bridge: The Fall of Nixon and the Rise of Reagan (New York: Simon and Schuster, 2014); Robert Self, All in the Family: The Realignment of American Democracy since the 1960s (New York: Hill and Wang, 2012); and Natasha Zaretsky, No Direction Home: The American Family and the Fear of National Decline, 1968–1980 (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2007).
INDEX
ABC (American Broadcasting Company): advance marketing and, 54, 125–130; black film professionals and, 120, 121–22; black programs and, 207; breast nudity depiction and, 115–17, 165; budget and, 174–75; “faction” and, 5, 189–190; finishing Roots (Haley) and, 3, 82; Kinte, Kunta (fourth great-grandfather) casting and, 105, 106–7; network television racial realities and, 110; Roots pitch and, 5, 94; Roots: The Next Generations (1979) (television), 193; Rudolph, Lou, 103; scripts and, 226n9; sexuality and, 203; Silverman, Fred, 129–130; slavery history and, 2, 156, 200; Standards and Practices office and, 115–17, 165; Stoddard, Brandon, 5, 107, 117, 128, 129, 130; whipping scene and, 168; Wolper, David and, 91, 95–96, 127–28. See also Roots (television)
Adams, Julius, 14
advance marketing, 4–5, 54–55, 66–67, 75, 87, 89, 102, 125–130
affirmative action, 176
Africa: Africa: Land of Fathers (Thompson, 1954), 74; African Journey (Robeson, 1945), 74; Autobiography of Malcolm X, The (Haley) and, 22–23, 38; depictions of, 112, 113–15, 116, 132–34; global broadcasts and, 179; Haley, Alex and, 2, 4, 22–24, 36, 38, 39, 42, 43, 133–34; Kinte, Kunta (fourth great-grandfather) and, 132–34; linguisitics and, 26–27, 104, 113; Oyotunji African Village, 114–15; racism and, 133–34; Roots (television) and, 179; Travels in the Interior of Africa (Park, 1799), 38. See also Gambia, the; Middle Passage, the
Africa: Land of Fathers (Thompson, 1954), 74
African, The (Courlander, 1967), 191–93
African American Lives (2006–8) (television), 205
African Journey (Robeson, 1945), 74
African linguistics, 26–27, 104, 113
Ain’t Supposed to Die a Natural Death (play), 121
Alex Haley’s Queen (1993) (television), 196, 207
Ali, Muhammad, 110
America, America (Kazan, 1964), 32
“American Negro exhibit” (1900 Paris Exposition), 7
American Slavery, American Freedom (Morgan, 1975), 6, 143
Amos, John, 9, 110, 112, 118, 169, 171
Amos íní Andy (television), 7–8
Anderson, Charles, 70
Angelou, Maya, 133–34, 151–52, 154, 155fig.
Annapolis (Maryland), 61, 157, 166
Arceneaux, Edgar, 201
Archive of American Television, 9
Asahi National Broadcasting Company, 179
Asner, Ed, 153–54, 157, 158fig., 159, 165, 168
Association for the Study of African American Life and History, 74
Atlanta Daily World, 137
Atlantic Monthly, 16
audiences: black, 70, 90–91, 109–10, 121, 176fig., 180; black characters and, 203–4; Kinte, Kunta (fourth great-grandfather) and, 107; lectures and, 4, 63, 72–73, 77, 85, 103–4; Roots (Haley) and, 3, 70, 77, 90–91, 140–41; Roots (television) and, 3, 77, 106–10, 121, 130, 163, 164, 168–69, 175–180; slavery history and, 175–180; television appearances and, 69–70; white, 3, 70, 72–73, 90–91, 106–10, 130, 140, 180
Aunt Liz, 12, 26
Aunt Plus, 26
Autobiography of Malcolm X, The (Haley): Africa and, 22–23, 38; copyright and, 195; Doubleday and, 18, 29, 30–31; film rights and, 56–57; financial concerns and, 19, 28–29, 32–33, 35; Fisher, Murray and, 83; Haley, Alex and, 30, 33, 219n31; Haley, Simon (father) and, 34, 73; lectures and, 40, 53; manuscript collection auction and, 197; Roots (Haley) and, 80, 89; Before This Anger (Haley) and, 3, 30, 35
Baartman, Sara, 204
Baker, Richard, 145–46
Baldwin, James, 16, 56, 65, 150, 151–52
Baraka, Amiri, 121
Bathurst (the Gambia), 41–42, 43
Baylin, Bernard, 143
BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation), 156
beauty ideals, 106, 161
Before This Anger (Haley), 11–36; Autobiography of Malcolm X, The (Haley) and, 3, 30, 35; as black history, 31–32; contract for, 11, 21–22, 34–36, 186–87; Doubleday and, 3, 11, 21, 22, 30–31, 34–36, 38, 39, 59, 65, 66–67; expanded ambitions and, 25, 27–28, 29–30; film rights and, 56–57, 58, 59, 66; financial concerns and, 22, 34–36; finishing and, 54, 59, 67, 83; lectures and, 40, 53–56; Manga, Ebou and, 39–41; manuscript collection auction and, 197; paperback rights and, 35, 59; race relations and, 20–21; Reader’s Digest and, 39, 41, 42, 59, 65–66; research for, 38; Reynolds, Paul Revere and, 11, 18, 19, 20–22, 24–30, 34–36, 44, 54, 56–57, 59, 66–67, 83; as story, 52; title change and, 67; Uncle Tom’s Cabin (Stowe) and, 63–64; X, Malcolm and, 18–19. See also Roots (Haley)
Beloved (Morrison, 1987), 151, 198–99, 201–2
Bess, Rebecca, 163–65
BET (Black Entertainment Television), 208
birth depiction, 153–54
Birth of a Nation (Griffith) (film), 7, 8, 68, 140, 156
black actors: beauty ideals and, 106, 161; black extras, 160–65; casting and, 110–11; cinematography and, 123–24, 159; commercial productions and, 180, 206–7, 208; Haley, Alex and, 113; slavery history and, 111–12, 118–120, 163–68, 169, 172; television appearances and, 168. See also individual actors
black audiences, 70, 90–91, 109–10, 121, 176fig., 180
Black Book, The (Harris, 1973), 6
black celebrities, 17–18, 100–101
Black Culture and Black Consciousness: Afro-American Folk Thought from Slavery to Freedom (Levine, 1977), 6
black extras, 160–65
Black Family: A Case for National Action, The (Moynihan, 1965) (report), 137–38, 139
Black Family in Slavery and Freedom, 1750–1925, The (Gutman, 1976), 6, 138
black film professionals, 101–2, 120–24
Black Genealogy (Blockson, 1977), 135–36
“Black Genealogy” (Wall Street Journal), 67
black history: advance marketing and, 129; Before This Anger (Haley) as, 31–32; challenges of representing, 200; growing awareness of, 75–76, 85, 136–37; Haley, Alex and, 31–32, 70–76; lectures and, 71, 72, 73–74; manuscript collection auction and, 197; monolithic view of, 31–32; Negro History Week (Black History Month), 74; popular culture and, 2, 74; Roots (Haley) and, 90, 136–37, 145; Roots (television) and, 180
; Before This Anger (Haley) as, 31–32; “Why ‘Roots’ Hit Home” (Time) and, 179–180. See also slavery history
Black Power movement, 72
black scholars, 70–74, 100, 137, 144–45, 184, 204–5. See also individuals
black studies, 68, 72–73
black television programs, 206–7
Blackwell Hutson, Jean, 71–72
Blake, Herman, 99
Blassingame, John, 6
Blau, Lou, 66, 92–93, 96, 186
Blinn, Bill: black film professionals and, 124; budget and, 175; Margulies, Stan and, 97, 103–5; the Middle Passage and, 161–62; as Roots co-creator, 9; on Roundtree, Richard, 119; scripts and, 95–96, 103–5, 158–59, 226n9; white actors and, 108–9
Blockson, Charles, 135–36
book awards, 145–46, 198
Booker (Haley) (book idea), 88
Book of Negroes, The (2007; 2015) (Hill), 208
book sales, 66, 130, 186
Bovill, E. W., 45
Bowers, Detine, 197
Bradley, Tom, 128
Branch, Nannie “Nan” (wife), 13, 15, 16, 19
Brazil, 179
breast nudity depiction, 115–17, 119–120, 163–64, 165
Brown, Georg Stanford, 112–13, 183
budget, 113, 174–75
Burnett, Charles, 181
Burton, LeVar, 9, 106–7, 108fig., 111fig., 112–13, 115fig., 160, 165–68, 171
busing, 176
Butcher, Margaret Just, 184
Butler, Octavia, 151
California State University consortium, 184
Camptown Ladies (Walker, 1998) (tableau), 204–5
Capote, Truman, 15–16, 57–58, 59
Carnegie Corporation, 71
Carrickmacross (Ireland), 41
Carson, Johnny, 6, 69
casting of actors, 105–10
CBS (Columbia Broadcasting System), 120, 207
Chappelle Show (television), 206
“Chicken George”. See Lea, George “Chicken George” (great-great grandfather)
Chin, Frank, 62–63, 76, 77
Chomsky, Marvin, 119
cinematography, 123–24, 159
civil rights, 7, 16, 21, 101, 178. See also King, Martin Luther, Jr.; X, Malcolm
Civil Rights Act of 1964, 21
Cleaver, Jim, 136–37
Cleveland Call and Post, 182
Collins, Juliette “Julie” (wife), 19, 24, 83, 87–88
Columbia Pictures, 58, 66, 75, 91–92, 194, 224n46
commercial culture, 200, 201, 207. See also popular culture
commercialization: Roots (Haley) and, 2, 27, 28, 62, 63, 93, 127–28, 130, 181, 182–87, 200; Roots (television) and, 2, 93, 109–10, 127–28, 130, 180, 182–87, 200
Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), 40, 120
Conners, Chuck, 108
Conrad, Barnaby, 15–16
contracts, 3, 11, 21–22, 34–36, 186–87, 194
Conyers, John, 179
copyright, 74, 184–85, 190, 193, 194–95. See also plagiarism lawsuits
Cosby, Bill, 110
Courlander, Harold, 2, 190–94, 196
Cousin Georgia, 26, 45–46, 146, 171
Crain, Mary Beth, 7, 156
critics, 2, 132, 141–42, 151, 156, 178, 200. See also reviews
Crown Publishing, 191–92
cultural phenomenon. See popular culture
Cumbuka, Ji-Tu, 160
Dakar (Senegal), 43, 45
David Frost Show, 69
Davies, Thomas, 157, 158fig., 163
Davis, David, 144
Davis, Miles, 17–18, 83, 146
Davis, Sammy, Jr., 101, 110
deadlines, 35, 59, 89, 94, 95, 97, 98–99, 101–2, 186. See also finishing Roots (Haley)
Dee, Ruby, 91, 125
Dell Publishing, 186–87
Dinah! (television), 168
Doane, Gilbert, 135–36
Donaldson, James William, 175
Doubleday: Autobiography of Malcolm X, The (Haley) and, 18, 29, 30–31; copyright and, 194; Drew, Lisa, 9, 59, 87, 95–96, 126–27, 186; genealogy and, 135–36; lawsuit and, 186–87; lectures and, 54, 66; McCormick, Ken, 9, 11, 30, 38, 59, 146, 186; nonfiction and, 189–190; Roots (Haley) and, 2, 82, 87, 93, 94, 95–96, 136, 186, 189–190; Roots (television) and, 126–28; slavery history and, 200; Before This Anger (Haley) and, 3, 11, 21, 22, 30–31, 34–36, 38, 39, 59, 65, 66–67
Douglas, Kirk, 158
Douglass, Frederick, 7, 170
Drew, Lisa, 9, 59, 87, 95–96, 126–27, 186
DuBois, W. E. B., 7, 73, 184
Duncan, Sandy, 108–9, 172–74
Ebony, 74, 188
educational markets, 93, 183–85
Edwards, Harry, 70
Elliot, Missy, 206
Ellison, Ralph, 17, 58–59
Emmy award, 92fig.
Engerman, Stanley, 6
Erman, John, 167–68
“Everybody’s Search for Roots” (Newsweek), 136
extras, 160–65, 174–75
“faction,” 5–6, 8, 10, 27, 58, 77, 90, 141–47, 188–190. See also historical accuracy
family heritage interest, 68–69, 135–36, 205–6. See also genealogy
female characters, 46, 149, 165, 170–71. See also breast nudity depiction
Ferry, Mary Ellen, 182
fiction/nonfiction, 58, 86, 126–27, 145–46, 189–190. See also “faction”
Fight against Slavery, The (1975) (BBC series), 156
film rights, 56–57, 58, 59, 66, 75, 86, 91–93, 224n46
Films Incorporated, 183–85
financial concerns: Autobiography of Malcolm X, The (Haley) and, 19, 28–29, 32–33, 35; Flying Finger Manuscript Service and, 99, 225n69; Haley, Alex and, 56–57, 86–88; IRS and, 32–33, 34; lawsuits and, 181–82; lectures and, 4, 54, 87; Reynolds, Paul Revere and, 19, 22, 32–33, 34–36, 39, 56–57, 87–88; Roots (Haley) and, 3–4, 86–88, 93–94, 96–97, 98–99, 102; Before This Anger (Haley) and, 22, 34–36
Finding Our Father: A Guidebook to Jewish Genealogy (Rottenberg, 1977), 135–36
Finding Your Roots (2012–16) (television), 205
finishing Roots (Haley), 2, 3, 70, 82–84, 86, 87–89, 91–92, 94–100, 101–2
Fisher, Murray, 2, 9, 82–84, 85–87, 89, 96–102, 188, 194
Fitelson, William, 58
Flying Finger Manuscript Service, 99, 225n69
Fogel, Robert, 6, 143–44
Fort James, 48, 61, 151
Foxx, Redd, 110
Frankel, Marvin, 190
Franklin, John Hope, 73, 74
Freedom Summer, 21
Free Southern Theater, 121
From Freedom to Freedom: African Roots in American Soil (1977) (study guide), 184
From Slavery to Freedom: A History of African Americans (Franklin, 1947), 74
From Sundown to Sunup: The Making of the Black Community (Rawick, 1972), 6
Frost, David, 69
Fry, Gladys-Marie, 184
Gambia, the, 37–52; as ancestral home, 2, 36, 37–39, 44, 47, 49, 68; Bathurst, 41–42, 43; Fort James, 48, 61, 151; genealogy and, 44; History of the Gambia (Gray, 1940), 45; Juffure, 2, 46, 48–49, 80, 131–33, 142–43, 154, 158, 189; Kinte, Kebba Fofana (uncle) and, 46, 48, 49–52, 134; Kinte, Kunta (fourth great-grandfather) and, 2, 5–6, 49, 80, 147; lectures and, 56; Lord Ligonier (ship) and, 60–62; Manga, Ebou and, 39–41, 42, 43, 45; New York Times and, 37, 188; promotion trip and, 187–88; research and, 27, 41–42, 43–52, 56, 57, 59–60, 77, 142–43, 188; Roots (television) and, 113–15, 154; Sims, George and, 30, 48, 50fig.; slavery history and, 38, 41–42, 48; Vansina, Jan and, 73; world attention and, 40–41, 42–43, 47, 187–88
Gambian embassy, 39
Gambia News Bulletin, 43–44
Gambian exchange students, 39. See also Manga, Ebou
Gambian High Commission, 45
Gambian Information Office, 43
Gambia River, 37, 38
; Gates, Henry Louis, 205
genealogy: black kinship and, 60; Finding Your Roots (2012–16) (television), 205; the Gambia and, 44; Haley, Alex and, 8, 26, 71; how-to publications and, 135–36; interest in, 68–69, 135–36, 205–6; Mills, Elizabeth and Gary, 61–62; scrutiny and, 61–62, 113; as source of uplift, 150; television and, 205–6. See also individual titles
genetic testing, 205–6
Genovese, Eugene, 6
global broadcasts, 179
Golden Trade of the Moors, The (Bovil, 1958), 45
Gone with the Wind (film), 8, 68, 140, 175, 204
Good Morning America (television), 168
Good Times (television), 110
Goodwin College, 9, 197
Gordy, Berry, 101
Gosset, Louis, Jr., 110, 111fig., 166
Gray, John Milner, 45
Great Migration, 88
Greene, David, 105, 107, 114, 154, 159–160, 161, 164, 170
Greene, Lorne, 108
Greenwood, Val, 135–36
Griffith, D.W., 7, 8
griots, 49, 51–52
Grove Press, 29
Gutman, Herbert, 6, 138
Haley, Alex: Africa and, 2, 4, 22–24, 36, 38, 39, 42, 43, 133–34; Alex Haley’s Queen (1993) (television), 196; ancestral homes of, 2, 36, 37–39, 41, 44, 47, 49, 68; Baldwin, James and, 16, 56, 65, 150; black actors and, 112–13; black film professionals and, 121, 124; black history and, 31–32, 70–76; black scholars and, 70–74, 100, 137, 144–45; Booker (book idea) and, 88; Burton, LeVar and, 112–13, 115fig.; childhood, youth and, 11–13; Chin, Frank and, 62–63, 76, 77; conflict and, 12, 83; copyright and, 190, 193, 194–95; Davis, Miles and, 17–18, 83, 146; deadlines and, 35, 59, 89, 94, 95, 97, 98–99, 101–2, 186; death of, 196–97; family and, 3–4, 138–39; as freelance writer, 13–14, 15–17; Gambia promotion trip and, 187; genealogy and, 8, 26, 71; “Harlem Nobody Knows, The” and, 14; as haunted, 149–150; Henning (Tennessee) and, 1–2, 3, 11, 12–13, 24, 49–51, 83, 138, 149, 194; How to Co-exist with Negroes (book idea) and, 19–20, 72; Irish ancestry and, 41; Kinte, Kunta (fourth great-grandfather) and, 4, 26, 49–51, 171, 202–3; Kinte Corporation, 93, 198; lawsuits and, 181–82, 186–87, 190–96; manuscript collection auction and, 196–98; marriages and, 13, 19, 83, 87–88, 102; Miami-Dade Community College and, 185fig.; Moses, Gilbert and, 121; “My Furthest Back Person—‘The African,’” and, 67; mythic qualities and, 68; New York Times and, 21, 89; Ottaway, Mark and, 51, 142–43, 144, 147, 187, 190; Palmerstown U.S.A. (1980–81) (television) and, 196; patriarchalism and, 46, 149, 171; personal costs and, 195–96, 198; racism and, 14–15, 17; research and, 8–9, 27, 41–42, 43–52, 57, 59–60, 77, 85–86, 132, 142–43; Roots: The Gift (1988) (television) and, 196, 207; Roots: The Next Generations (1979) (television) and, 193, 196, 207; sexuality and, 202–3; Sims, George and, 16, 196; storytelling skills and, 5, 76, 104, 113, 146; television and, 1–2, 69–70, 77–78, 89, 138–39, 196; US Coast Guard and, 13–14, 15, 16; W. Colston Leigh speakers’ bureau and, 3, 53–54, 55fig., 195; writing preferences and, 81–82, 84; X, Malcolm and, 18–19, 22–24, 28–29, 31, 219n31. See also Autobiography of Malcolm X, The (Haley); Before This Anger (Haley); financial concerns; lectures; Reader’s Digest; Reynolds, Paul Revere; Roots (Haley); Roots (television)
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