Fifty years ago, Roots written by Alex Haley not only sold 1.5 million copies in the first year alone, it also became a major cultural and sociological phenomenon. In 1977, a seven-part serialisation of Roots appeared on American TV; in Pakistan, it was available on VHS in the 1980s and captured the imagination of viewers who were forced to witness slave-like whippings and threats of amputations under General Zia’s dictatorship.

Since then, both the book and the dramatisation have remained among the top-rated in their genres across the world. Haley himself characterised his book, Roots, as a work of faction, a genre that lies between fact and fiction, documenting history with a fiction-like narrative.

Before Alex Haley, most African-American sailors served almost exclusively in menial jobs; he held the distinction of being the first coast guard to be designated a journalist in recognition of his service to public affairs and history programmes. As a coastguard, he had the walls of his cabin full of rejection slips he received for the articles and short stories he had submitted to various magazines. His first major work was The Autobiography of Malcolm X (1965) for which he interviewed the subject and produced a book, essentially using oral testimony.

And then, with his outstanding book -- Roots --- he became one of the most celebrated black writers on the American literary scene. Haley (1921-92) did extensive research into the history of his own family and chose the novel form as a means of presenting his findings. Though some of his research findings were questioned by a couple of serious historians and some charges of plagiarism were also levelled against him, the book needs to be read and seen as a combination of history and fiction. He did not merely present facts about his family’s past, he was also able to tell the story of the lives they lived.

He based his narrative on the oral tradition through which family stories are passed from one generation to the next. Literary speaking, oral tradition has been an important means of transmitting social histories in almost all cultures and such tradition is accepted as a literary form too, as in rural and less-educated societies it has a paramount significance.

Roots is the story of Kunta Kinte who was born in Africa and was taken as a slave to America; his offspring grew up in the US as slaves. What makes Haley’s narrative believable is that it is not presented as just another work of fiction.

Most of the characters such as Chicken George and Tom appear to be real people whose stories were like the ordeals thousands of other slaves went through. Reading Roots makes you forget that it is generally a fictional work and probably that’s where the secret of its popularity lies for over half a century now. Fictionalising history almost always draws the criticism for oversimplification and most historical novels end up doing that, but the period of slavery in American history can hardly be simplified -- from Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1852) by Harriet Beecher Stowe to The Help (2009) by Kathryn Stockett.

Probably the most harrowing passage of the book is about Kunta’s journey in the hold of a slave ship. Haley’s vivid narrative of the raw violence meted out to the hapless African slaves leaves you shell-shocked. The main theme of Roots is the retelling of Haley’s family history with an emphasis on each generation’s handing down of the tale of ‘the African’. Key words are transmitted from generation to generation and with these words Haley manages to explore and untangle his family’s heritage.

The naming ritual is another tradition carried forward by Kunta and his family which holds that children develop traits of the person for whom they are named. Then there is the never-ending quest for freedom, especially the first four generations keep the dreams of freedom alive in their hearts and minds. For example, Chicken George -- the grandson of Kunta -- bargains with his white father for his freedom. Chicken George becomes a trainer of gamecocks and that provide an analogy for the plight of the slaves. The choice of gamecock by Halley is intriguing because they are not like domesticated birds fit for consumption.

Roots not only became a commercial and critical success but also created its own critical context with a marvelous tv production which remains an important chapter in television’s history. The first episodes of Roots: The Saga of an American Family show Kunta Kinte’s capture and enslavement followed by his struggle to maintain his Gambian identity from the 1750s. The recreation of his journey on screen beautifully shows his attempts to understand what has happened to him. In later episodes, the intensity grows after Kunta arrives in America and is bought by a plantation owner.

The scenes where Kunta is mercilessly whipped to accept his new name, Toby, show his master’s desire to remove any sense of identity from his slaves. The use of force to impose an identity on us is as prevalent today as it was two or three hundred years back.

The best part of the book and its TV production is the message that each struggle remains an inspiration for succeeding generations. For example, in the chapters and episodes about Chicken George, he shows a strong talent for working with animals and tries to create an identity for himself and for the first time succeeds in it, to some extent. Then the next generation is shown to revolve around George’s son Tom who becomes a blacksmith, but then is sold to a tobacco grower. His daughter, Cynthia, becomes a part of a wagon train of freed slaves.

Alex Haley is shown to be the grandson of Cynthia; he sits and listens as his elders tell stories of their family’s experiences, back to the mysterious Kunta Kinte. When Haley retires from the US Coastguard, he investigates his family history and produces the narrative in Roots.

Fifty years ago, when in 1977 the Roots was shown on tv it became the most-watched television show in the US history at the time. It received dozens of nominations and won nine Emmy Awards.