Saga gripped the world

KUNTA Kinte is a slave in the novel Roots: The Saga of an American Family, by late American author Alex Haley.

First published in 1976, the book became a cultural sensation in the US and sparked interest in genealogy and appreciation for AfricanAmerican history.

Roots was also adapted into a hugely popular TV mini- series in 1977 which was broadcast around the world.

A re-make was commissioned by the History Channel and aired earlier this year.

The story traces the lives of Kinte’s US descendants, down as far as Haley himself.

Kinte was abducted from his Gambian village as a teenager in 1767, before being sold to a Virginian planter.