What can a Book do? At a personal level, it entertains you, keeps you engaged, helps
you develop your personality and achieve success. In a broader sense, it is supposed
to play a more significant role. A book can make you identify yourself with it. There arebooks that have brought about revolutions, changed public opinions, and made peoplerealize their mistakes. One such book is “Roots” written by Alex Haley.
Way back in 1959, while on a tour of the London Museum Alex Haley was inspired to
trace the roots of his family. What interested him more was a quaint custom in his
family, a story which had passed from one generation to the next. He could not
decipher all the words in the story, which he as a black American construed to be a
dialect, probably from Africa. Twelve years of study, research and investigation took
him to an ancient village, Jafur in Gambia. This is the place from which his ancestor,
six generations back had been taken to America as a slave. His name was Kunta
Kinte. How Alex traced and met his blood relations in Africa, after nearly two centuries
of separation and the tale of six generations of his family from Kunte Kinte to himself
form the crux of this book.
The story that spans two continents, two races, and two centuries brought tears in the
eyes of millions of people around the world. Oppressed people all over the world
identified themselves with the characters in this novel. The book created history for two
reasons. One, it smashed the belief that Africa is a dark continent. It has brought to
light the fact that thousands of years back, Africa had a strong political system and
every child used to undergo compulsory education. The arrival of westerners plunged it
into darkness. Two, through a mix of fiction and history it has given the world a
message that all humans are one, they are all woven together into the diverse
kaleidoscope of humanity.
These words that come out when Alex Haley meets his blood relations have become
immortal:
“One after the other, they have thrown their babies into my hands and took them back.
There is a great meaning in this ancient custom. You and I are part of this being called
human. You and I are same.”
First published in 1974, “Roots” ran into several reprints, selling more than five million
copies around the world. Around thirty countries bought its publishing rights and
brought it in their local languages. There is no other book that has rocked the world like
this one, after “Uncle Tom’s Cabin”. The story of how a family lost its freedom and
gained it back after centuries of slavery, made me cognizant about the freedom and
the rights I enjoy in my country. It inspired me to respect other’s freedom and
individuality. I am sure it will continue to be an inspiration in this segregated world.