by Hal Erickson
synopsis
Deviating from the storyline of Alex Haley's book, and the classic 1977 miniseries that followed, the plotline of 1988's Roots: The Gift finds African-born slave Kunta Kinte (LeVar Burton) and his plantation friend Fiddler (Louis Gossett Jr.) helping freed black man Cletus Moyer (Avery Brooks) smuggle runaway slaves to freedom. Roots: The Gift was set during Christmas of 1775 because it was slated for telecast during the Christmas season of 1988 -- December 11, to be exact. This telecast was timed to coincide with the posthumous publication of Alex Haley's book A Different Kind of Christmas, which had nothing whatsoever to do with Roots but did concern itself with runaway slaves at Yuletide.
characteristics
- Race Relations
- Holiday
- Historian
- History
- Roots [origins]
- Underground-railroad
- Slave
- Heritage
- Free
- Captor
- Captivity
- Captive
- Christmas
- Cross-cultural-relations
- Family
