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The Importance of Roots to a White Girl in the 1970s
Television was such a different experience 40 years ago.
In the days before VCRs, DVRs, streaming services, and other paraphernalia, when you heard an interesting show was going to be on, you planned for it. Such was the case with the first phenomenon of binge watching: the mini-series.
Mini-series were all the rage during television rating periods. In 1977, ABC was betting big on the mini-series Roots, based on author Alex Haley’s story about his family in America.
My parents loved to watch television in the evenings, and I was allowed to stay up to watch with them until 9:00 p.m., my bedtime. We joined the rest of the country and settled in to watch Roots.
Roots was a revelation.
Prior to Roots, I knew nothing about slavery in America. Growing up in my white suburban neighborhood, there were no people of color there or at my school. For much of my early life, all I ever saw was white people. The only time I saw diversity was on television on shows like Sesame Street, The Electric Company, Sanford and Son, Chico and the Man, and Welcome Back Kotter.