Sorry Kids, But Alex Haley's "Roots" Was A Fraud

From TomPaine.com:

"Let's speak candidly," Gates explained to Alex Beam of the Boston Globe (November 3, 1998). "Most of us feel it's highly unlikely that Alex actually found the village from which his ancestors sprang. Roots is a work of the imagination rather than strict historical scholarship. It was an important event because it captured everyone's imagination." Translation from Gates's buttery diplomatese: Haley was a literary imposter who slicked the discovery of Kunta Kinte, and ripped off black history as well as other writers' words, and I'll be damned to stick him in the Norton just because Roots sold a zillion copies and the miniseries broke Neilsen records. Sometimes race solidarity demands too much.

From Stanley Crouch:

In the early 1980s, when Alex Haley, the author of "Roots," was speaking at Lincoln Center, investigative reporter Philip Nobile asked him a straightforward question. Since he had paid Harold Courlander $650,000 in a plagiarism suit, why shouldn't Haley be considered a criminal instead of a hero? Haley had no answer. Well, what would you expect from someone who had pulled off one of the biggest con jobs in U.S. literary history? Yet the "Roots" hoax has sustained itself. Every PBS station in America refused to show the 1997 BBC documentary inspired by Nobile's reporting on the book.

Since "Roots" has brought millions of black tourist dollars to Gambia, one Gambian said to me, "Yes, it is a lie but it is a good lie."

From Newsense.org:

Last month, The New York Times ran an article commemorating the “Roots” anniversary. After several paragraphs of ritual praise for “Roots” as “timeless,” “eye-opening,” “poetic,” “gripping,” “a great drama” and containing “visual elegance and emotional power,” the article stated that the sense of horror the show engendered in viewers was real, “even if Kunta Kinte’s story did not ‘really happen’ the way Haley depicted it.” After cataloging some of the discrepancies in Haley’s work, the article rescued the author with this telling statement: “None of those details mar the effectiveness of the drama or the essential reality beneath its story. When his facts were challenged, Haley, who died in 1992, began calling his work ‘symbolic history,’ and on the levels of emotional truth and broad historical strokes, ‘Roots’ remains immensely potent.”

This description encapsulates one of the fundamental problems with modern liberalism. Emotions take precedence over facts and the truth is dismissed as mere “details.” The story of “Roots” is false, but that cannot be allowed to hinder the drama’s “essential reality beneath the story.”

For The New York Times, a foundation of specific false claims and historical inaccuracies somehow helps create broad historical strokes of “emotional truth.” The story may not be true, but the emotions of the viewer are, and this fact supposedly negates the story’s falsified premise. Thus we are told that “Roots” ultimately deserves its iconic status because it “remains immensely potent.” Not true, but “potent.”

As it turns out, there is a word for stories that did not “really happen,” but may be emotionally “potent” anyway. That word is “fiction.” There is also a word for “reality beneath the story,” “emotional truth,” and “symbolic history.” That word is “lies.”

Comments

[bit of both]

I understand, Tom. I do find it quite bizarre why Haley did this in the first place (if infact it is an absolute that his family 'research'was untrue). What could have been his reasoning? Pressures from his agents/publishers perhaps?; that to state it being true, it would sell more and aim for deeper impact maybe, especially on African Americans?; or perhaps the stakes were higher in that Roots perhaps would not have been half as respected and indeed published if Haley said it was a 'mere' novel? Are these or any other excuses fair reason for Haley to lie? Or are we missing the point? Perhaps we are. I have no doubt that Haley in writing Roots thought it important to attempt to describe American slavery as best he could, and more importantly establish the ancestry of Black Americans to their African heritage. In the DVD pack of Roots the actor who played the young Kunte Kinte explained in an interview that Haley himself said to him on set that he (the actor) should understand how important the making of Roots was. And indeed it was. So, perhaps thats all we need, and I stick by it completely. Haley would have lived with the complete truth, and I hope did not give himself a hard time. With the importance of both the book and series, I know i forgive him, and its testament to Haley that descriptions of American slavery in Roots is actually only just now being researched in depth and being debated. I say let Haley's reputation rest in peace, and wish those of us whose ancestors were slaves (mine in Barbados) understand the progress of slavery and respect ourselves in memory of our ancestors, something Haley obviously did.

[bit of both]

correction for last thread, last sentence: '...understand the PROCESS of slavery', (not progress).

[tonya]

Roots is a story based upon fact. Actual events inspired this story. Don't deny slavery, it happened. All those horrible things happened. Is every last bit of it true? no, alex haley wasn't there to witness every conversation, he took family stories, and, as a writer, he made it into a book. i personally feel that all the angry white southerners posting here are merely pissed because the past of their "proud" heritage is being exposed. get over it! it happened! dont defend something that's as inhuman as that. also, i feel i should mention that im a white girl living in arkansas. and my ancestors owned slaves, but that doesnt have to be who i am. and its not. and it doesnt have to be who you are. let it go okay? big deal if he made some stuff up, everyone has.
-tonya

[jeanne]

woah...a bunch of really interesting comments up there...( tho i was too lazy to read everything)

i am currently reading roots, and i am sure that alex haley took the pains to do a research on his family tree. and there is this sentence which is somewhat like "we keep it here" referring to keeping all the stories in their brain.

anyway, roots IS a GOOD book, and even if its fictional, there is no need to get so agitated. it DOES depict the life of a black, for SEVEN GENERATIONS, it also touches issue on religion, manhood, sex, patriarchy, etc.

it has been a great book. i havent finished it, but the beginnings are all realistic. only someone with the real experience, and not someone with a great imagination, can tell such a magnifique story.

au revoir...
jeanne

[jeanne]

woah...a bunch of really interesting comments up there...( tho i was too lazy to read everything)

i am currently reading roots, and i am sure that alex haley took the pains to do a research on his family tree. and there is this sentence which is somewhat like "we keep it here" referring to keeping all the stories in their brain.

anyway, roots IS a GOOD book, and even if its fictional, there is no need to get so agitated. it DOES depict the life of a black, for SEVEN GENERATIONS, it also touches issue on religion, manhood, sex, patriarchy, etc.

it has been a great book. i havent finished it, but the beginnings are all realistic. only someone with the real experience, and not someone with a great imagination, can tell such a magnifique story.

au revoir...
jeanne

[GSM]

I think that the persons whom have opposed Alex Haley's book and movie are WRONG. You took us through slavery and that wasn't enough for you. Now that we are tracing our roots and remembering were we came from you want to discredit that too.

[Matt]

Me?? I'm devastated.

I LOVED Roots as a kid growing up in London.

As a white boy with no axe to grind I found that the series touched me very deeply. I remember crying while watching it.

From my point of view it made me hate racists ... and I really felt for the black people that suffered so badly.

Now ... 30 yrs later ... I watch the re-run of Roots here in the U.S. ... decide to do a Google search on Roots to pass the time ... and BANG! ... I find out all this stuff about it being made up.

Well ... I'm certainly dissappointed.

Understatement.

I am totally gutted. Now I don't even want to watch it again. I feel cheated.

I know that the dialogue had to be 'made up'. I'm not stupid. But ... I really thought that the significant events were true.

Now it seems that this fantastic epic that I've loved and respected for 30 years was fake.

Sooooo dissappointed.

I've also just realised why at the end of the 2007 rerun this week they didn't show the piece at the end where Alex Haley walks along telling us that he was the little boy 3 or 4 generations on ... it was because he friggin wasn't.

Bunch of crap.

[GSM]

I THINK THAT YOU ALL ARE JUST FEELING STUPID ABOUT THE WAY YOUR FORE FATHERS TREATED BLACKS. IT HAPPENED--IT'S TRUE--SO GET OVER IT. YOU JUST TRYING TO TAKE AWAY THE THINGS THAT REALLY HAVE HAPPENED.

I'LL TELL YOU WHAT'S A BUNCH OF CRAP. A BUNCH OFCRAP IS YOU THINKNG YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO AKE SOMETHING AWAY THAT REALLY, TRULY HAPPENED. IF WOULD HAVE HAPPENED TO YOUR FORE FATHERS--WOULDN'T YOU WANT THE TRUTH ABOUT IT TOLD.

LET'S KEEP IT REAL!

[nicole]

first of all yall just staight up wrong n Tom u a white man u just hatin on alex haley so get over ya self cause the history of it WAS TRUE!!! n yall just need to jump off, stay off, lay down n kill ya self!!!!who ever dont belive the history of roots i hope you burn!!!

[baffled...]

For the last two comments I must remark that for those who resent Alex Haley for lying or rejecting Roots, I don't think it is a question of denying slavery, but the bottom line is is that Mr Haley lied. I agree with the thread posted by 'bit of both': that Roots for all its fiction, touched on the subject of slavery as good as any slavery historian has and does. Roots is most certainly a piece of work that cannot be dismissed, but it is a shame that Haley attempted to pass it as 'factual' based on his ancestors. Anyone putting themselves out like that will be left wide open to being discredited. In the real world anybody else would have been lambasted and ridiculed for faking a story that heavily relied on supposed 'true'character referencing. Haley however, has survived that, no doubt because of the topic Roots is based upon. Personally and for what its worth, I respect Roots despite its original misleading selling point. Its a valid piece of work based on a terrible institution. But i do understand people's disappointment at its fake story, a story that would have no doubt moved them as a fact based drama. Anybody that denies slavery in the Americas really has another agenda, and really should not even be given any time. But to pounce on a person for feeling let down by Haley, and cheated by the story, is hardly fair. Futhermore, the authors of the last two comments, you really have to differentiate the denial of slavery, and that of a story that is being dismissed because it was believed to be by millions as a true character story.

[Amanda]

As a white Scottish woman living in the land of my own natural enemy "The English" I can relate entirely to the feelings some African Americans harbour against their own ancestral enemy "the white man". We too lost our native language, national dress and culture. Our history had to be passed down orally and in secret. I am proud of my heritage and despise that this was stripped from my ancestors but does that make me bitter? No. We have only just ..... and I mean JUST ... got back our own Parliament. We were ground under English rule for centuries and we are still smarting from the blows. But we got over it. I, a proud advocate of my own history and the self-proclaimed educator of all those unaware of the horrors suffered under the heel of the English, yes even I know this happened in the past. It does not colour my judgement today and it should not. I believe we should all know our history and, here's the important thing, LEARN FROM IT. Is everyone missing the point here? Tom is not trying to deny slavery as some of you feel he is, he is only saying that Alex Haley was wrong to claim the book as HIS PERSONAL story. He should have claimed the book as the story of slavery, of the decendants of ALL slaves, proud to have fought the injustices of the past and find their own voice in the modern world. Reading the comments and mud slinging on this site I cannot help but feel there are many people just missing the point. We all know slavery happened, those of us with a conscience care about it and we learn from our ancestors mistakes, no matter what race they are or from what country they originally hailed. Tom does not deny any of this. Instead of reading what you think is there, please read what is actually there. I can see that he has tried on several occasions to explain that he thinks the book is great, his only problem is that Alex Haley claimed it was a true story, instead of saying it was based on true events. There's a big difference there. Does that help?

[lou]

mmm, not sure whether I am entirely convinced or indeed confortable with the comparison you have given between your 'heritage' and that of the African/African American.

Your thread was a fascinating one. You talk of your ancestral history not colouring your judgement today, or making you bitter but your wording immediately gives a different impression.

History is a complex thing. Most of mankind has a history of oppression and torment of some level, which incidently still occurs frequently amongst varying people(s). Historically its remarkable how we in todays society pick and choose what is deemed most relevant when it comes to oppression, and dare I say much of it is unoriginal and predictable, and far too easy to use as a tool to bash a nation and its citizens (citizens that had nothing to do with the atrocities that their governments imposed on others, past and present). This is not underminding or dismissing them, indeed all history should be analysed and debated to find the truth and mto understand, and learn from it. But as an English person I do find your use of blaming the English as a whole for the historical woes and the 'blows' the Scottish are still 'smarting', a little offensive, predictable and self-pitying. My lineage is mixed, from Irish, African and English, and I am completely aware of the atrocities that was suffered by them at the hands of certain governments and their henchmen. But more importantly I am also fully aware that the oppression and cruelties were only at the hands of a selected few not the whole 'country'. And this was where your wording was on dangerous ground because you are feeding into the hatred that still arises today, in your case between the English and the Scottish. My own father was abused and quite remarkably blamed for all sorts whilst in a Scottish run bar on holiday, all using your verbal stance. He quite rightly pointed out that his father, his grandfather and both his great and great-great father were of poor origin who lived in a remote part of Northern England, living off the land of the aristocracy.

However, to return to my first point, after studying my ancestral path i find it hard to even allow my English and Irish roots to be even classed in the same bracket as my African-Barbados chattel roots. Slavery in the Islands was terrible and the sufferings are incomparable. To catergorize your history and present situation to that of the history of African Americans in bondage and the social relevance it has in the USA now, is slightly dubious.

However, this page is about Roots and Alex Haley, which I happen to think its an excellent book whether true or not. Its a shame he lied. Not sure why he did, but there must have been reasons. Concerning ourselves with whats true or not takes us away from the fact that Roots is an amazing piece of fiction that is a must read and must watch.

[jeni]

Thank you for telling the truth! I am actually watching the show in my american history class and my teacher told us how "this is a true and amazing story" but once i looked it up and found out its falsehood and brought it up in class, what do i get but a lecture on how every story has already been written by Shakespear and how he has written every theme and how all work will base off of these. This is a load of b.s. and i am glad that you all have the common sense and iq over .00000001 to realize this fact.

[LoLo]

Personally, I am very proud of the work of Roots and Alex Haley. That mini-series changed America at that time. It is also significant in the African-American community for a number of reasons. But let me say this to all who disbelieve. Of course the story was fictionalized somewhat because Mr. Haley would not have had every story from every family member's life. What he did was take the many stories handed down from generations past, along with what he and others experienced during the times and created the story of Roots. Now if you think any of it was an absolute lie, THINK AGAIN. I have stories from my own family which are very similar...so the conditions which black people suffered and experienced, weren't a lie. Not only that, I recently met the wife of the man he served the coast guard with and she told me how long he researched this long, long before Roots ever reached book form. He personally shared (with her) the stories from his grandmother. I am personally very disgusted with Mr. Gates assessment of Mr. Haley and the Roots story, because he would not have a job as a geneologist, had it not been for the ground work laid by Alex Haley. In other words, NO ONE was interested in tracing their roots, until Alex Haley did it. Even Oprah would never have thought about it, had it not been for Alex Haley. As for the depiction of the treatment of black people I say this: I have people in my family who said it was PAINFUL to view Roots, because as they put it, "the story was painfully true, and because they personally lived it, they did not need to watch it on tv". I have stories from my grandmother that would make your head spin around. SLAVERY IN THE SOUTHERN STATES DID NOT END WITH THE EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION. As for Mr. Gates, I now have much less respect for him because of his comments about Roots. I guess he needed to further his own career and used the opportunity to step on Alex Haley's work....a crab mentality.

[NJ]

I've have strange feelings within as I read the interesting comments of Alex Haley, My great, great Grandmother who passed away in Sept of 1977 who I know was not a liar told me as I was 7-9 that my family name Harvey came from a strong history and to me is a conincident that my grandmother realtives happen to be listed in Alex Haley's history line. So maybe if I believe what you all are saying my grandmother wasn't who she was and maybe she and her family was a fraud as you all's view of Alex Haley

[T]

God Bless all who read this and have lost faith in this book and it's subsequent movie. The life and exact words of every individual will not be accurate but with the length that early European Caucasian Americans went through to keep a group of people from not knowing who they were I’m glad to see a story like this, it gives me, an African American female who needs to understand that her people came from somewhere and just did not offer themselves up as whipping post dogs for another man to degrade abuse and build his pleasures upon. Even today, there is still hatred. Hate is a reality. These comments are based of jealousy and the endless need for people who are in the wrong to still be covered up or. Admit that there was slavery, that it was a nasty and hateful thing, and allow other the space to move on. Forgiving others is one thing that the African American lineage can do. Coming from those who do not want people to know about hate, it is a fact, it is not fiction and it is something that should not be defended. There are a group of strong African American people who rose up out of the dirt of this nation and with all of the damage it did I’m proud we are even able to look into the eyes of the ones who served up this dish of slop and their current generation. People wonder why a black man runs from the cops even though he's not guilty, watch roots. People wonder why African Americans have such a problem with each other, watch roots. People wonder why African Americans are still unsettled, watch roots. The lives of generations of people who were mentally, physically and spiritually torn apart and the other they raised up are what you have in the current African American society now. If you are reading and understanding any of what I am trying to communicate whether Caucasian, African, African American, Latino, native American etc. study who and what African American people really are and just like you make movie showcasing your past and downfalls and accomplishment we respect you do the same. Whether this lineage is complete back to Africa or not it is the story of millions of people and should be respected as such.

[Tom McMahon]

For another aspect of Black History, please see New Philadelphia, Illinois: The First Town In The United States Founded By An African-American. This one is a true story, and it's virtually unknown today.

[keith]

Listen:
I am black.
My ancestors were slaves.
I DO NOT have a problem with other black people.
I can trace my lineage way back futher than many of my white friends.
I do not have a problem with my color.
I do not run from the police.
I DO NOT blame anyone alive for the slave trade.
I do not blame the white people for the problems today in 'black' culture - these problems ARE NOT forced upon black people.
Oh and guess what? While I was meeting my relatives in Senegal, I was a guest at a dinner party at a very big house owned by a very rich black family who are very wealthy on the back of trading humans with the French. Oh and some of those humans were my ancestors. I thought it strange at first but realised all these people at the dinner table were funnily enough not alive in the 1600's. All those dining acknowledged each others history, prayed, blessed those who suffered and survived, and then we all lived on without hatred and blame.
I read Roots as a student.
I was impressed with Alex Haleys story.
Does it matter if he said it was based on a true story? Or about his lineage? Yes. He lied. Not about slavery, but he lied. Lied and copied. You must not lie because it creates unrealibilty when you are found out. Slavery existed as Haley described but just not with those he said lived it. Alex Haley as a writer has lost my respect. I really really just wished he would have said it was a novel. But I forgive him.

Move on people...life is too short. Much too short.

[masie mac]

Is the treatment, or mis-treatment of African-American women by African-American men today a form of retaliation for the way they way they (the men)were treated as slaves?

[I forget]

the miniseries was so overacted it should have been billed as a comedy

over done seems an apt description

but what is kinda scary is that the message seems for black people to look backward and feel hate
and white people to look backwards and feel guilty

romans enslaved the world so hey, lets all sue them because somewhere in the past one of our ancestors must have been a slave to them.. no wait.. any english people? sue norway for the vikings enslaving that country for a period of time... hang on a sec.. irish people? sue england and america for forcing them to be servants and put in stocks and whipped if they screwed up.. now wait.. I forgot the australians! sue sue sue for being thrown in a boat and shipped off to die on the other side of the world... did I mention the mongols?? there is a lawsuit in there I just know it

dumbasses watch shows like this, believe every word of it and voila they now have an axe to grind

there is enough shit to handle TODAY without always looking backwards

to cwdrummer: calling blacks radist because "some" of them despised the people who "owned" them is like calling the sheep racist against the wolf. You are the reason that level headed people of color have to always be apprehensive when dealing with white people; because of narrow-minded views like your's that you will type behind the safety of your keyboard, but never repeat in public. It's interesting how much of your brand of crap I read on the computer, but I never hear it in person. It makes you wonder who's REALLY thinking what.

[Garrett R. VanAtten]

Well the way i see it is though African Americans where slaves so were white people at a certain time but there really should be no racisim againsed anybody but as Tom has showed us all here so far that is what he likes for he says "Roots" is a fraud....don't think so but maybe its just the excitement of listening to people fight about whos right and whos wrong and thats where the racisim starts....cause some whites say there right and some blacks think there right....well the only person in the right here is the people defending Alex Haley and the only person who is truly in the wrong is the guy who made this particular site....Tom McMahon.

[lance dev]

Na, your wrong. This is a debate on Roots as the genuine article. Racism as I see it does not come into it. if it does then that or those people are in the wrong place and really should not be debating it if that is their angle. Can't we have a reasonable discussion and opinion on the relevance of topics, in this case Roots, without it being a discussion on black people saying this and white people saying that? Personally when someone starts piping on about denying slavery because Haley made up his heritage, or accusing those who are saddened by Roots being a fraud as slavery deniers, I choose to ignore. Slavery happened, but Roots as a piece of factual literature is false...equally however, Roots is a relevant piece of fiction. Tom Mcmahon for raising this issue has not caused any trouble. A reasonable discussion should always be welcomed by everyone, and nobody should be accused of racism because they want to push discussion on this topic.

u r a racist bastard and so are most of the dumb honkies who've posted on your site... this is why stories like haley's (his or not) need to be told. Your kind have silenced the drums long enough and will stop at nothing to keep them silenced.

[lance dev]

mmm, interesting. While I would rather not get into my 'race', and especially in response to the last thread posted, I just would like to settle his/her score. I am not a 'honkie', a 'bastard', and 'my kind' what ever that may be (oh for the record, I was born in America, am a black woman and an educated in England), and would never ever attempt to silence any 'drum'. In relation to the 'dumb honkies' on this site, true there are a few dodgy threads but I feel fairly positive that some of the messages have been based on interesting debate.