Roots: The Saga of an American Family

by Alex Haley

pre-eminent:

presaged

perpetuated.

“The more blackness a woman has, the more beautiful she is.”

griot

Alexander the Great,

they had learned from the jalli kea: “One generation passes on . . . . Another generation comes and goes . . . . But Allah abides forever.”

The past seemed with the present, the present with the future, the dead with the living and those yet to be born; he himself with his family, his mates, his village, his tribe, his Africa; the world of man with the world of animals and growing things—they

all lived with Allah. Kunta felt very small, yet very large. Perhaps, he thought, this is what it means to become a man.

the kasas boyo operation, which would purify a boy and prepare him to become a father of many sons.

Juffure—the

Heritage

kankurang

jujuo’s

life everlasting

fotos

kafo

new moon

day—“to prove yourselves smarter than all women, even your mother,”

Women

forefathers.

Worshipful regard was a duty owed by the living to those who dwelled with Allah, he

each of the ancestors the boys had named—as was the way of ancestors—was petitioning Allah in the best interests of the living.

every person who lived there was equally important to that village; from the newest baby to the oldest elder.

As new men, they must therefore learn to treat everyone with the same respect, and—as the foremost of their manhood duties—to protect the welfare of every man, woman, and child in Juffure as they would their own.

toubob

sentries

reprimand them most severely if any dirt or insects are found inside.”

fifteen to nineteen rains,

emissaries

baobab

Lamin

saphie

she had acted as she knew a woman must toward one who could no longer seek comfort at her skirts.

man be regarded with a certain amount of respect, even by his own brother.

wuolo

mirth.

It was believed that this magical essence would protect a man from possession by evil spirits while he slept.

But Kunta’s foto would be as hard as his thumb some mornings when he waked. Of course, it had been hard many times before, even when he was Lamin’s age; but now it was much different in the feeling, very deep and strong.

seoruba,

dubious

Madi

Suwadu

toubob

kingdom of white cannibals across the sea.

alimamo

“Why do we count only those taken away by the toubob?” asked the arafang. “We must count also the burned baobabs where villages once stood. He has killed more in fires and in fighting him than he has ever taken away!”

The men stared at the fire for a long time, and then another elder broke the silence: “Toubob could never do this without help from our own people. Mandinkas, Fulas, Wolofs, Jolas—none of The Gambia’s tribes is without its slatee traitors.

“Greed and treason—these are the things toubob has given us in exchange for those he has stolen away.”

quietly. Then the kintango spoke again: “Even worse than toubob’s money is that he lies for nothing and he cheats with method, as naturally as he breathes. That’s what gives him the advantage over us.”

“That will be,” said one of the elders, “when the river flows backward!”