He was the grandson of Kairaba Kunta Kinte, who served as a holy man for the Mandinkas of Juffure. All rights reserved.All of this is to say that Kunta Kinte seems to have been a real person, and though details of his life may have been changed for Just because Kunta existed, however, does not mean every detail of his life shown in © Copyright 1998-2020 by Who2, LLC. Kunta Kinte is the main character in "Roots: The Saga of an American Family," Alex Haley's 1976 novel. He and others were put on the slave ship the Lord Ligonier for a four-month Middle Passage voyage to North America. Kunta Kinte is the central figure in Alex Haley‘s 1976 book Roots.

Considering the historical context of his life, viewers may be wondering if Kunta Kinte was a real person as Roots follows his family over the course of eight hours. In 1765, Kunta is taken into manhood training. According to Alex Haley, an American author of African American descent, Kunta Kinte was a member of the Mandinka tribe of Gambia, West Africa. Kunta Kinte is a protagonist in Alex Haleys novel Roots: The Saga of an American Family.

Kunta awoke to find himself blindfolded, gagged, bound, and a prisoner. Written in 1976, Haleys novel follows Kunta Kinte from his capture by white slavers in Gambia to his life as a slave in the United States. One day in 1767, while Kunta was searching for wood to make a drum for his younger brother, four men chased him, surrounded him, and took him captive. All rights reserved. Kunta Kinte’s Gambian legacy Situated on the North Bank of the River Gambia, Juffureh is a small Mandika village made famous by the fact that it’s the birthplace of Kunta Kinte. He was raised in a Muslim family. The novel was the basis for the epic 1977 ABC miniseries "Roots" that attracted a … Haley claimed his book was based on a real-life man who was captured …

A memorial to Alex Haley and Kunta Kinte stands in Annapolis, Maryland, at the dock where Kinte arrived.NY Daily News on Trump: ‘Three Men and a Baby’Princess Stephanie of Monaco frowns a bitThe book was turned into an epic 12-hour TV miniseries in 1977, starring Princess Stephanie of Monaco holds up her gownWho2 does not collect any personal information. how some of the dates, lineage, and documents of This may account for some of the inaccuracies cited by experts and genealogists who questioned the authenticity of The director of Boston University's African American studies program, John Thorton, served as the historical advisor to the the author said that Kunta Kinte was his own great, great, great grandfather2020 Bustle Digital Group. According to the book Roots, Kunta Kinte was born circa 1750 in the Mandinka village of Jufureh, in the Gambia. According to Haley’s research, Kunta Kinte was a real historical figure who was 17 when he was captured and taken to America as a slave aboard the ship Lord Ligonier in 1767.Roots traces the lives of Kinte and his descendants down to Haley himself, Kinte’s great-great-great-great-grandson. His father was Omoro. Haley claims that his great-great-great-great grandfather, Kunta Kinte, arrived in Annapolis, Maryland, aboard the slave ship Lord Ligonier in September of 1767.

Notable events in Kunta Kintes life are his slave-naming as Toby, which becomes a great struggle between him and his white master, and the amputations of half of his foot as punishment for an escape attempt. We do allow cookies to help our advertising partners give you a better ad experience.How Will ‘Black Panther’ Go On Without Chadwick Boseman? K… Kunta is the eldest of two sons of the Mandinka tribesman Omoro and his wife Binta Kebba. One day that year, he is sent to hunt a bird without a weapon. Haley asserts that he was captured and brought as a first-generation slave to Annapolis, Maryland in 1767.

Haley describes Kunta's strict Muslim upbringing, the rigors of the manhood training he undergoes, and the proud origins of the Kinte name. Kinte was a character in Alex Haley's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel Roots, and later of a miniseries by the same name.