Facts about Kunta Kinte
4 Good Links
Kunta Kinte Heritage Festival
Web site for the Maryland event, with a brief history of KinteRoots
The Museum of Broadcast Communications describes the miniseries and its impactThe Kunta Kinte-Alex Haley Foundation
Website of the educational and memorial groupMalachi Kirby is Kunta Kinte
A 2016 interview with the star of the Roots remakeShare this:
Kunta Kinte Biography
Kunta Kinte is the central figure in Alex Haley‘s 1976 book Roots. According to Haley’s research, Kunta Kinte was a real historical figure who was 17 when he was captured and taken to America as a slave aboard the ship Lord Ligonier in 1767. Roots traces the lives of Kinte and his descendants down to Haley himself, Kinte’s great-great-great-great-grandson.
The book was turned into an epic 12-hour TV miniseries in 1977, starring LeVar Burton as young Kunta Kinte and John Amos as the older Kinte. The miniseries was a landmark hit: “For eight consecutive nights it riveted the country,” reports the Museum of Broadcast Communications, adding that Roots “scored higher ratings than any previous entertainment program in history.” In a 2016 remake on The History Channel, Kunta Kinte was played by Malachi Kirby.
Extra credit
A memorial to Alex Haley and Kunta Kinte stands in Annapolis, Maryland, at the dock where Kinte arrived.