What is kunta kinte famous for

The release of the book and the well-received television show marked a turning point for the tiny village, as it also galvanised world opinion towards The Gambia and West African history. The village is still surrounded by the forest where Kunta Kinte was captured while gathering firewood. The ancestors of Kunta Kinte still live in Juffureh today and contribute towards the preservation of memory in the village by meeting with visitors partaking in the Roots Tour.

Aside from an excursion to Juffureh, the tour includes a trip to the neighbouring village and old colonial trading post of Albreda, the Gambian Slave Museum, and to Kunta Kinte Island formerly known as James island situated in the middle of the River Gambia. This tour is also popular with locals as it forms part of the history and social studies syllabus in Gambian schools. Much has been done to preserve the site and the environment to make it look as it must have in the s. Growing up Kunta Kinte would have, just like any other young boy, been adept at farming, cattle rearing, hunting and wrestling.

In those days, these were common daily activities among many communities in rural Gambia, and ones that are still practised to this day. We and our partners use cookies to better understand your needs, improve performance and provide you with personalised content and advertisements.

Once known as James Island, Kunta Kinte Island was a holding ground for captured slaves before they were shipped to America. The island is named for its most famous slave, who was later immortalized in the book and then mini-series Roots. In , Kunta dies of a broken heart. Kunta was a warrior, he was enslaved and travled across the world and lived to start a new family in America.

The Kinte dynasty will be asembled for many years. After extensive interviews with members of his close relatives, including his grandmother, Cynthia Palmer, as well as his interviews with people in expert libraries he concluded that his descendant, Kunta Kinte, was kidnapped by slavers in Juffure which is in the tiny country of The Gambia, West Africa, way back in the ….

The book was adapted into a popular television series. George returns to the Lea farm to discover that his family was sold off to another family in North Carolina in his absence. Lea had promised to free his family. Based on the character and his experience, Kunta Kinte is also used as a derogatory name for an African person who has recently immigrated to a new place.

Table of Contents. We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. Do not sell my personal information. Cookie Settings Accept. CNN also reported that Gambians still consider him to be a real person, with Gambian historian Lamin Ceesay showing the host of CNN's Inside Africa an old advertisement for slaves and saying that it featured the boat used to transport the real Kunta.

Just because Kunta existed, however, does not mean every detail of his life shown in Roots is accurate. In an interview transcribed by the Alex Haley Roots Foundation, writer Lawrence Grobel asked Haley if he prefers to describe Roots with a different word than "novel," to which Haley replied, "Faction. I saw that word in a book in London. It means a mixture of fact and fiction