Kunta Kinte

Glossaries

Term	Definition
Kunta Kinte	Kunta Kinte (c. 1750 – c. 1822; /ˈkuːntɑː ˈkɪnteɪ/ KOON-tah KIN-tay) is a character in the novel Roots: The Saga of an American Family by American author Alex Haley. According to Haley, Kunta Kinte was based on one of his ancestors: a Gambian man who was born in 1750, enslaved and taken to America and who died in 1822. Haley said that his account of Kunta's life in Roots was a mixture of fact and fiction. The extent to which Kunta Kinte is based on fact is disputed.

Term

Definition

Kunta Kinte (c. 1750 – c. 1822; /ˈkuːntɑː ˈkɪnteɪ/ KOON-tah KIN-tay) is a character in the novel Roots: The Saga of an American Family by American author Alex Haley. According to Haley, Kunta Kinte was based on one of his ancestors: a Gambian man who was born in 1750, enslaved and taken to America and who died in 1822. Haley said that his account of Kunta's life in Roots was a mixture of fact and fiction. The extent to which Kunta Kinte is based on fact is disputed.