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Description edit
This "bold . . . extraordinary . . . blockbuster . . ". (Newsweek) begins with a birth in 1750, in an African village; it ends seven generations later at the Arkansas funeral of a black professor whose children are a teacher, a Navy architect, an assistant director of the U.S. Information... read more
Ridiculously Simplified Synopsis edit
Characters/People edit
- Kunta Kinte: The main character, an African brought to US as a slave.
- Kunte Kinte: African boys that was taken from Africa on a slave ship to become a slave in the deep south before the civil war.
- Kunta Kinte: The original protagonist of the story. He was captured from Africa where he was part of the Mandinka people. He grows up in the Gambia in a small village called Juffure, but he is then captured and enslaved in America where he is renamed Toby.
- Belle Waller: She is the cook for the doctor who owns her and Kunta. She marries Kunta, and they have a daughter Kizzy.
- George Lea: He is the son of Kizzy and Tom. He's called Chicken George because he is in charge of the chickens they fight.
- Matilda: Matilda marries George, and they have a son Tom.
- Kizzy: The daughter of Kunta Kinte and Bell
- Bell: Kunta Kinte's wife.
- Uncle Mingo: An old slave, the keeper and trainer of the chickens that Massa Lea fights.
- Irene: Add a description of this character.
- Massa Waller
- Missy Anne
- Miss Malizy
- Sister Sarah
- Allah
- Binta
- Virgil
- Massa Murray
- Grandma Yaisa
- Juffure
- Lawd
- Mandinka
- George Johnson
- Massa John
- Amos
- Cynthia
- Mammy
- Luther
- Don
- Massa Jewett
- Mary
- Cates
- Lewis
- Uriah
- Madi
- Janneh
- Samson
- Toussaint
- Henning
- Suwadu
- Tom Lea
- Sitafa
- Will Palmer
Setting & Locations edit
- Africa
- Virginia
- The Gambia
- England
- Kamby Bolongo
- North Carolina
- Haiti
- Richmond
- Nyo Boto
- Spotsylvania County
- Cousin Georgia
- Saloum
- Washington
- Tennessee
- Charleston
- New York
- Alamance County
- Enfield
- Alabama
- Annapolis
- France
- Greensboro
- Gambia River
- D.c.
- South Carolina
- Fredericksburg
- Mauretania
- Foulah
- New Orleans
- Timbuktu
- Newnited States
- Kansas City
- United States
- Ghana
- Philadelphia
- Newport
First Sentence edit
Early in the spring of 1750, in the village of Juffure, four days upriver from the coast of The Gambia, West Africa, a manchild was born to Omoro and Binta Kinte.
Series & Lists edit
This book is in Books to Read in 2011. (community list)
This is book 114 of 214 in Best English-Language Fiction of the 20th Century. (authoritative list)
Preceded by Wide Sargasso Sea, and followed by Pale Fire.
Authors & Contributors edit
- Alex Haley (Author)
First Edition edit
Original Language: English
Publisher: Dell
Country: USA
Publication Date: 1976
ISBN: 0-440-17464-3
Page Count: 729
Publisher: Dell
Country: USA
Publication Date: 1976
ISBN: 0-440-17464-3
Page Count: 729
Awards edit
- National Book Critics Circle Award (Finalist, 1976: General Non-Fiction)
Classification edit
- Library of Congress: Add the Library of Congress Classification.
- Dewey: 929.20973
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