Racines 2

Although Roots is about slavery it is also about family and legacy and as such has a universal message. The superb quality of the first mini- series is carried on in Roots: The Next Generation.

The first series left off at the Reconstruction Era where hopes of legal, economic, and social equality are dashed, most especially during the Populist era of the 1890s. That was when a lot of demagogic politicians especially those in the South linked racism to economic advancement for poor whites. A legacy the South still has to deal with today.

Great Grandson Tom Harvey of Kunte Kinte from Africa and his wife Irene played by Georg Stanford Brown and Lynne Moody carrying on from the first series. Legends of Kunte Kinte renamed Toby here are handed down to the family as he's referred to as 'the old African'. The issues in their different forms are being addressed down to the present generation as author Alex Haley played by James Earl Jones rediscovers and documents the family's African roots.

Marlon Brando won an Emmy and is unforgettable as George Lincoln Rockwell head of the American Nazi Party. You will not forget his performance as the personification of hate and James Earl Jones's extreme uncomfortableness doing an interview. By contrast Jones develops a rough rapport with Malcolm X played by Al Freeman and gets his first acclaim as a writer doing Malcolm's autobiography.

One role I particularly liked was that of John Hancock who is the CPO of the steward's mess in The Coast Guard and mentor to young Alex Haley played by Damon Evans. It's a similar to the non-commissioned officer that Hancock played in A Soldier's Story.

Also in a mentoring role of sorts is Ossie Davis who mentors Alex Haley's father Simon Haley played by Dorian Harewood in the ways of being a Pullman Porter. The issues involving that job and the organization by A. Phillip Randolph of The Brotherhood Of Sleeping Car Porters ares touched on here, but dealt with fully in 10,000 Black Men Named George.

Roots: The Next Generation continues an excellent tradition and will be seen by more generations than the old African Kunte Kinte could have imagined.

If you're an instructor of History or Anthropology, as a visual recording of historical facts; viewing the entire Roots collection (including "Queen") is imperative.

It is also entertaining to see how the lives of people in these movies evolved.

Without a doubt, this family saga eclipses John Galsworthy's 'The Forsythe Saga' as well as 'The Thorn Birds' and 'North and South'. All of them are dwarfed by Alex Haley's work. This offering features the last three generations after the American Civil War leading up to Alex Haley in the 20th century. He is the benchmark for 'Black Writing', family sagas and period dramas. Even the period dramas that Sidney Poitier and Hattie McDaniels appeared pales into insignificance compared with this work. More than that, this piece of entertainment delivers high quality acting, good dialogue, solid characters and engaging story lines. I had to watch this again and again to absorb it because it was so good.

ROOTS:THE NEXT GENERATIONS-Produced by Wolper Productions for the ABC Television Network. Producer:Stan Margulies. Based on the novel "Roots" written by Alex Haley. Executive Producer: David L. Wolper,and adapted for television by William Blinn. Shown as a mini-series for ABC-TV that ran from 1979-1981.

First Telecast of the Mini-Series: February 18,1979 Last Telecast of the Mini-Series: July 12,1981 NOTE: During the February 1979 broadcast,it ran each night for seven days,and was repeated as a weekly series from May of 1981 to July,1981.

Two years after Alex Haley's "Roots" made television history,this sequel to one of the most highly watched programs of all time continued the saga,again attracting large audiences in which no one,not even ABC was expecting such a brilliant success. And again it was the talk of the town during the night of the Emmy Awards,winning more Emmys than any other show imaginable in the history of television. The story picks up where the first one left off,where it resumed from last time. The story begins in 1882,by which time Tom Harvey,the great-grandson of Kunta Kinte had established a marginal existence as a blacksmith in Henning,Tennessee. Relations between the races were strained,but the old prejudices and racial hatred of the past survived. Tom Harvey(George Stanford-Brown)forbade his daughter's marriage to a light-skinned negro because he is "too white";and town patriarch Colonel Warner(Henry Fonda)disowned his own son Jim(Richard Thomas)when he dared to marry a black schoolteacher. Before long "literacy tests" were being used to deny blacks their recently won the right to vote,and lynch law had reappeared. This was during the reconstruction period,and this was years after the Civil War and the story continues onward towards the beginning of the 20th Century.

Tom's younger daughter,Cynthia(Bever-Leigh Banfield),married a hard working young man named Will Palmer(Stan Shaw),who,despite the oppression,had risen ownership of the local lumberyard. In time Will would succeed Tom as the leader of the black community,as the terror and violence of the Ku Klux Klan swept the South. Will and Cynthia's daughter,Bertha(Irene Cara),became the first descendant of Kunta Kinte to enter college. There,in 1912,she met an ambitious young Simon Haley (Dorian Harewood),son of a sharecropper,whose education was being sponsored by a philanthropic white man. After serving in a segregated combat unit during World War I,Simon returned to marry Bertha and began teaching agriculture at a black college in Tuskegee,Alabama. This was otherwise known as Tuskegee Institute also known as Tuskegee University. It was from there that the foundations of family lore were discoved by Simon's son Alex(played by Kristoff St. John as a child; Damon Evans as a young man,and James Earl Jones as a adult)who soaked up the family legacy that was told to him from the older generation about the stories and family history about the ancestors of Kunta Kinte.

As the beginning of World War II approached,Alex enlisted in the Coast Guard,where he spent the next 20 years. When he retired in 1960 he turned to writing,interviewing such national figures as Malcolm X,whose autobiography he helped write. Haley also had candid interviews with American Nazi Leader George Lincoln Rockwell,and also was good friends with Dr. Martin Luther King,Jr. But it was a visit to his boyhood home in Henning,Tennesee that reignited his interest in his family's past,all the way back to the "Old African" Kunta Kinte,and started him on a journey to Africa where the origins of his ancestors came from and from there begin his most greatest work of all time.

"Roots:The Next Generation",just like the first one,had a lot of brilliant talents which featured a superb who's who of African-American actors of their day,along with Hollywood heavyweights like Henry Fonda,Olivia DeHavilland,Harry Morgan and Marlon Brando is unusual role as a Aryan Leader of a Nazi Organization,whom Haley interviews. The "Roots" sagas are usually shown during Black History Month,but it is a must to see this special in all its glory to one of the most highly acclaimed specials of all time.

Does anyone ever sit down to watch Part One of Roots without the other? I didn't even know it was separated into two parts until looking up the information online. As is the case with nearly every miniseries saga, the modern era is far less interesting than the historical ancestors. However, The Next Generations spends the vast majority of its episodes still as a period piece, from the 1880s through WWII. So, while Levar Burton is no longer in it, we still get to completely immerse ourselves in sympathetic and determined characters played by Dorian Harewood, Ruby Dee, Debbi Morgan, Marc Singer, Georg Stanford Brown, Avon Long, Irene Cara, and at long last James Earl Jones.

As was the case in the original, tons of Hollywood stars flocked to the small screen to be a part of the life-changing miniseries, and in Part Two, you'll see Olivia de Havilland, Henry Fonda, Marlon Brando, Harry Morgan, Beah Richards, Claudia McNeil, Brock Peters, Paul Winfield, Ossie Davis, Diahann Carroll, Dina Merrill, Richard Thomas, Debbie Allen, Andy Griffith, Paul Koslo, Pam Grier, James Broderick, and Michael Constantine all show up through the seven episodes, adding interesting faces and unique acting styles to an already fascinating story. On a completely unrelated note, I got a kick out of seeing Howard Rollins and Brian Stokes Mitchell both included (though in different episodes) since they both ended up playing Coalhouse Walker Jr. In Ragtime; Rollins starred in the film, and Mitchell was onstage in the musical (one of my favorites).