Roots: The Story of an American Family (Characters)

Characters

Bell

Bell is the cook on Master Waller's plantation. Eventually, she becomes Kunta's wife. When she is in labor, she tells Kunta about the two baby girls who were sold away from her when she was younger. In response, he gives their daughter the name Kizzy (the name means "you stay put").

Bell is sometimes exasperated by her husband's African ways and by his refusal to accept Christianity, but they have a deeply loving relationship based on mutual respect. Like Kunta, Bell is devastated by the sale of Kizzy.

Nyo Boto

Nyo is Kunta's grandmother, a woman who cares for the children of the village and fears no one. When he leaves on his first trip away from the village, she gives him a saphie charm to ward off evil spirits.

The Fiddler

One of the most colorful characters in Roots, Fiddler is "half-free," as he explains to Kunta, because his former master was drowned and he must stay near another master for protection. He plays his fiddle at parties and learns much about current events. He is the one, for example, who tells the other slaves about the Boston Massacre.

Fiddler is garrulous, likes to drink, and is a staunch friend to Kunta. He saves $700 hoping to buy his freedom, but is devastated to learn that Master Waller wants twice that amount to free him. In his anger and pain, he smashes his fiddle, and his playing is never the same after that.

Chicken George

Kizzy's flamboyant son, George is doted on by the adults on the Lea plantation. As he grows up, he becomes the apprentice to Uncle Mingo, and quickly becomes an expert trainer of gamecocks.

Often absent from his family's lives, George is not faithful to his wife, but is in his own way a loving father and husband. He plans to buy his family's freedom with money he's saved from cockfighting, but loses it all when Tom Lea — at George's urging — bets too much in a cockfight. George is forced to travel to England and work for Lord John Russell for several years, returning to find his family has been sold. Lea gives him his freedom, and he finds his family at the Murray plantation, only to be forced to leave the state.

When the family is emancipated in 1865, George rejoins them. The family journeys to Henning, Tennesee. After his wife Matilda's death, George dies from a bad burn.

Alex Haley

The author of Roots, Haley is the son of Simon and Bertha Haley. He grows up in Henning hearing stories of his African ancestors and his other relatives. After a long career in the Coast Guard, Haley becomes a writer; he is eventually driven to research his family's past. The high point of his life comes when he hears of his African ancestor, Kunta Kinte, while on a journey to Africa. After twelve years of research, Haley publishes Roots.

Simon Haley

A railroad employee who becomes a professor, Simon is Alex Haley's father. He is devastated by his wife's early death. Roots ends with an account of his funeral.

Ol' George Johnson

After begging on the Murray plantation, Ol' George is a white man that becomes the overseer. He earns the respect of the slaves by working hard and never exhibiting any prejudice. When the Murrays leave their plantation, he and his wife journey with them to Henning. Ol' George becomes a part of the black community and is subject to the same treatment the blacks suffer.

Binta Kinte

Binta is the mother of Kunta Kinte and his brothers Lamin, Suwadu, and Madi.

Janneh Kinte

Janneh is Kunta's uncle and the son of Kairaba Kunta Kinte and his first wife. Janneh and his brother Saloum have traveled over much of Africa before founding their own village.

Kunta Kinte

The protagonist of Roots, Kunta Kinte is born in Juffure, Africa, to Binta and Omoro Kinte. Soon followed by three brothers, Kunta grows up according to the traditional ways of his village. By fifteen, he already owns a thriving farm, has traveled within the Gambia, and has made plans for a trip to Mali with his brother Lamin.

When Kunta goes one morning to chop wood for a drum, he is captured and enslaved by the toubob (white slavers). After a harrowing journey to the African coast, Kunta is placed in the hold of a ship, which arrives in Virginia several weeks later. He attempts to escape from his captors four times, and on the last attempt his foot is cut off by two white patrollers.

While he recovers, he is sold to Master John Waller. Kunta becomes the gardener on the plantation, and later is assigned to be Waller's driver. Gradually Kunta learns English, aided by his friend the Fiddler, who teaches him many English words. Kunta becomes a part of the slave community, though he does not forget his African identity.

Unlike the other blacks on the plantation, Kunta refuses to become a Christian, and continues to pray to Allah. Likewise, he tells the other slaves his name is Kunta Kinte, not Toby, the name given him by his original master. Kunta marries Bell, the plantation cook, and they have a daughter, Kizzy. Kunta teaches Kizzy about his heritage, including his life in Juffure and many Mandinka words. Kunta and Bell are devastated when Kizzy is sold away from them at sixteen, after she has helped her lover Noah escape.

Lamin Kinte

Lamin is Kunta's younger brother. Lamin accompanies Kunta on his trip to find gold.

Omoro Kinte

The father of Kunta Kinte, Omoro is stern but loving. When Kunta loses a goat to a wild animal, he expects his father to punish him. Instead, Omoro tells Kunta that he still bears the scars from trying to save one of his own goats when he was a boy, and, out of his concern for Kunta, he tells him never to run toward a wild animal. Omoro also takes Kunta on his first trip, which gives Kunta a love of traveling.

Saloum Kinte

Saloum is Janneh's brother and Kunta's uncle.

Yaisa Kinte

Yaisa is Kunta's grandmother. When he is a child, she cares for him and tells him stories. Her death is Kunta's first experience of loss.

Media Adaptations

• Roots was adapted as a television miniseries in 1977, starring LeVar Burton, Ben Vereen, John Amos, Leslie Uggams, Maya Angelou, Cicely Tyson, Edward Asner, Harry Rhodes, and Robert Reed.
• A sequel, Roots: The Next Generation, was shown in 1979 as a miniseries. It covered the lives of Haley's ancestors after the Civil War. A Christmas movie, Roots: The Gift, heralded the return of Kunta Kinte, played by Burton, as well as the Fiddler, played by Louis Gossett, Jr., to network television.