Give your students new perspectives on race relations, on the history of the American Revolution, and on the contribution of the Founding Fathers to the cause of representative democracy. Check out TWM’s Guide:

TWM offers the following movie worksheets to keep students’ minds on the film and to focus their attention on the lessons to be learned from the movie.

Film Study Worksheet for a Work of Historical Fiction;

Film Study Worksheet for ELA Classes; and

Worksheet for Cinematic and Theatrical Elements and Their Effects.

Teachers can modify the movie worksheets to fit the needs of each class. See also TWM’s Historical Fiction in Film Cross-Curricular Homework Project and Movies as Literature Homework Project.

Additional ideas for lesson plans for this movie can be found at TWM’s guide to Lesson Plans Using Film Adaptations of Novels, Short Stories or Plays.

Roots is a video presentation of Alex Haley’s Pulitzer Prize-winning book, Roots: The Saga of an American Family. Volume VI covers the period from Emancipation through Reconstruction.

Selected Awards:

The “Roots” series won a Golden Globe Award as the Best Television Series of 1978, nine Emmy Awards, and many other honors.

Featured Actors:

Ben Vereen, Lloyd Bridges, George Stanford Brown, Olivia Cole, Brad Davis, Burl Ives, and Lynne Moody.

Director:

Marvin J. Chomsky.

The “Roots” series describes important aspects of the black experience in the U.S. and, for all Americans, helps in facing the legacies of slavery and segregation.

MINOR. There is some violence but it is appropriate to the film’s message. The ending of this film is improbable. It is unlikely that Chicken George and his family would be permitted to take mules and farm implements and leave whites tied up to trees without being pursued and prosecuted in local courts.

Before watching the movie, review the Helpful Background section and describe its contents to your child. Immediately after the movie ask and help your child to answer the Quick Discussion Question.

For information on lynching, see Learning Guide to “To Kill A Mockingbird”.

Reconstruction was the process of rebuilding the South that followed the Civil War. It extended from 1865 to 1877. The federal government divided the South into military districts and stationed soldiers there as an army of occupation. The Freedman’s Bureau tried to help slaves for a time. During this period, the federal government tried to remake the South. White resistance took the form of passive resistance, terror from masked riders, and economic tactics designed to place blacks in a position similar to slavery. Reconstruction ended with the collapse of the last Southern state governments under Republican control in 1877. Thereafter, in a period called “the Redemption” by Southern whites, the remaining reforms of the reconstruction era, including black suffrage and universal public education, were scaled back.

1. See Discussion Questions for Use With any Film that is a Work of Fiction.

2. What would you have done if you were a black American living in the South during Reconstruction?

3. What would you have done about issues of race relations if you were a former Confederate soldier living in the South during Reconstruction and the Redemption?

Discussion Questions Relating to Ethical Issues will facilitate the use of this film to teach ethical principles and critical viewing. Additional questions are set out below.

RESPECT

(Treat others with respect; follow the Golden Rule; Be tolerant of differences; Use good manners, not bad language; Be considerate of the feelings of others; Don’t threaten, hit or hurt anyone; Deal peacefully with anger, insults, and disagreements)

1. Why was the institution of segregation disrespectful of black persons?

Suggested Response:

It denied their full humanity and equality as human beings.

See Assignments, Projects, and Activities for Use With Any Film that is a Work of Fiction.

Older children who are good readers will enjoy the book Roots: The Saga of an American Family by Alex Haley. See also Reconstruction: America After the Civil War by Zack Metgar. Rebels Against Slavery, by Patricia and Frederick McKissack, is suitable for ages 11 and up.

This Learning Guide was last updated on July 21, 2011.

Benefits of the Movie
Possible Problems
Parenting Points

Selected Awards & Cast
Helpful Background
Discussion Questions

Moral-Ethical Emphasis
Assignments and Projects
Bridges to Reading

TWM offers the following movie worksheets to keep students’ minds on the film and to focus their attention on the lessons to be learned from the movie.

Film Study Worksheet for a Work of Historical Fiction;

Film Study Worksheet for ELA Classes; and

Worksheet for Cinematic and Theatrical Elements and Their Effects.

Teachers can modify the movie worksheets to fit the needs of each class. See also TWM’s Historical Fiction in Film Cross-Curricular Homework Project and Movies as Literature Homework Project.

Additional ideas for lesson plans for this movie can be found at TWM’s guide to Lesson Plans Using Film Adaptations of Novels, Short Stories or Plays.

RANDALL KENNEDY, Professor, Harvard Law School on the two alternative traditions relating to racism in America:

“I say that the best way to address this issue is to address it forthrightly, and straightforwardly, and embrace the complicated history and the complicated presence of America. On the one hand, that’s right, slavery, and segregation, and racism, and white supremacy is deeply entrenched in America. At the same time, there has been a tremendous alternative tradition, a tradition against slavery, a tradition against segregation, a tradition against racism.

I mean, after all in the past 25 years, the United States of America has seen an African-American presence. As we speak, there is an African-American vice president. As we speak, there’s an African- American who is in charge of the Department of Defense. So we have a complicated situation. And I think the best way of addressing our race question is to just be straightforward, and be clear, and embrace the tensions, the contradictions, the complexities of race in American life. I think we need actually a new vocabulary.

So many of the terms we use, we use these terms over and over, starting with racism, structural racism, critical race theory. These words actually have been weaponized. They are vehicles for propaganda. I think we would be better off if we were more concrete, we talked about real problems, and we actually used a language that got us away from these overused terms that actually don’t mean that much.   From Fahreed Zakaria, Global Public Square, CNN, December 26, 2021

Give your students new perspectives on race relations, on the history of the American Revolution, and on the contribution of the Founding Fathers to the cause of representative democracy. Check out TWM’s Guide: TWO CONTRASTING TRADITIONS RELATING TO RACISM IN AMERICA and a Tragic Irony of the American Revolution: the Sacrifice of Freedom for the African-American Slaves on the Altar of Representative Democracy.

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