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Roots

1977 American TV miniseries
TVSeries miniseries Q1247168
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Summary

Roots is a miniseries[1]. Roots ranks in the top 3% of miniseries entities by monthly Wikipedia readership (11,495 views/month).[2]

Key Facts

  • Award received: Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directing – Drama Series[3], Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Limited Miniseries[4], Peabody Awards[5], Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Music Composition for a Series (Original Dramatic Score)[6]
  • Director: Marvin J. Chomsky[7], John Erman[8]
  • Screenwriter: Alex Haley[9]
  • Composer: Quincy Jones[10]
  • Genre: drama television series[11], television series based on a novel[12], miniseries[13]
  • Based on: Roots: The Saga of an American Family[14]
  • Cast member: LeVar Burton[15], Leslie Uggams[16], Louis Gossett Jr.[17], Olivia Cole[18], Vic Morrow[19], Lynne Moody[20]
  • Producer: David L. Wolper[21]
  • Performer: Quincy Jones[22]
  • Original language of film or TV show: English[23]
  • Language of work or name: English[24]
  • Original broadcaster: American Broadcasting Company[25]
  • Country of origin: United States[26]
  • Start time: January 23, 1977[27]
  • End time: January 30, 1977[28]
  • Characters: Kunta Kinte[29]
  • Distributed by: Warner Bros. Television Studios[30]
  • Narrative location: Virginia[31]
  • Topic's main category: Category:Roots (TV miniseries)[32]
  • Main subject: slavery in the United States[33]
  • Film editor: Neil Travis[34]
  • Number of episodes: 8[35]
  • Takes place in fictional universe: Roots universe[36]
  • Title: Roots[37]
  • After a work by: Alex Haley[38]

Why It Matters

Roots has Wikipedia articles in 21 language editions, a strong signal of global cultural recognition.[39] Roots is known by 31 alternative names across languages and contexts.[40]

FAQs

What awards did Roots receive?

Honors received include Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directing – Drama Series[3], Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Limited Miniseries[4], Peabody Awards[5], and Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Music Composition for a Series (Original Dramatic Score)[6].

Related Entities

Alex Haley LeVar Burton Louis Gossett Jr. Quincy Jones United States Virginia

References

Programmatic citations — every numbered marker resolves to a verifiable graph row below.

Direct Wikidata claims

  1. [7] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  2. [8] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  3. [9] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  4. [10] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  5. [11] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  6. [12] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  7. [13] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  8. [14] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  9. [15] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  10. [16] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  11. [17] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  12. [18] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  13. [19] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  14. [20] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  15. [21] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  16. [3] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  17. [4] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  18. [5] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  19. [6] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  20. [22] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  21. [23] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  22. [24] ↑ . fernsehserien.de. Retrieved . fernsehserien.de. Provenance: wikidata.org.
  23. [25] ↑ . The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows 1946–Present. wikidata.org.
  24. [26] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  25. [27] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  26. [28] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  27. [29] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  28. [30] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  29. [31] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  30. [32] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  31. [33] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  32. [34] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  33. [35] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  34. [36] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  35. [37] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  36. [38] ↑ . wikidata.org.

Class ancestry

  1. [1] ↑ . Wikidata. wikidata.org.

Aggregate / graph-position facts

  1. [2] ↑ . Wikimedia Foundation. dumps.wikimedia.org.
  2. [39] ↑ . Wikidata sitelinks. wikidata.org.
  3. [40] ↑ . Wikidata aliases. wikidata.org.

📑 Cite this page

Use these citations when quoting this entity in research, articles, AI prompts, or wherever provenance matters. We aggregate Wikidata + Wikipedia + authoritative open-data sources; the stitched, scored, cross-referenced view is what 4ort.xyz contributes.

APA 4ort.xyz Knowledge Graph. (2026). Roots. Retrieved October 11, 2026, from https://4ort.xyz/entity/roots
MLA “Roots.” 4ort.xyz Knowledge Graph, 4ort.xyz, 11 Oct. 2026, https://4ort.xyz/entity/roots.
BibTeX @misc{4ortxyz_roots_2026, author = {{4ort.xyz Knowledge Graph}}, title = {{Roots}}, year = {2026}, url = {https://4ort.xyz/entity/roots}, note = {Accessed: 2026-10-11}}
LLM prompt According to 4ort.xyz Knowledge Graph (aggregator of Wikidata, Wikipedia, and authoritative open-data sources): Roots — https://4ort.xyz/entity/roots (retrieved 2026-10-11)

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Edit History

Rolling log of changes to this entity's Wikidata record. Values shown reflect the current state of each edited property — follow the history link to see the precise diff for any edit.

  1. 7w ago · Jindřich Rubeš · 2026-08-21 view diff on Wikidata ↗
    P14813 → 49044
    "/* wbcreateclaim-create:1| */ P14813: 49044, [[:toollabs:quickstatements/#/batch/269251|batch #269251]]"
  2. 15w ago · Yirba · 2026-06-25 view diff on Wikidata ↗
    P14449 → 69849
    "/* wbeditentity-update:0| */ QuickStatements 3.0 [[:toollabs:qs-dev/batch/38225|batch #38225]]: MovieLens IDs (part 1)"
  3. 22w ago · Zestier · 2026-05-08 view diff on Wikidata ↗
    On focus list of wikimedia project → WikiProject African diaspora, Wikipedia:Vital articles/Level/4
    Original network → —
    End time → —
    Screenwriter → Alex Haley
    + 33 other properties edited (see Wikidata diff for full list)
    "/* wbeditentity-update:0| */ QuickStatements 3.0 [[:toollabs:qs-dev/batch/30637|batch #30637]]: TVmaze #21"
Live feed via Wikidata EventStreams. New edits appear within minutes of being made on Wikidata.