Chapters 1-10 Summary

In 1750 a boy is born in the village of Juffure in the Gambia, West Africa, to Omoro and Binta Kinte of the Mandinka tribe. The old, wrinkled midwives, Nyo Boto and the baby's grandmother, Yaisa, rejoice to see that the baby is a boy, as their Muslim belief is that Allah bestows special blessings on both the parents of a first-born son and their families. The boy's father, Omoro, happily announces the birth of his son to the other men of the village as they return home from their morning prayers, and before the men all go off to their daily work, farming the fields surrounding the village.

A week later, all the villagers gather for the baby boy's naming ceremony. This ceremony is very important to the Mandinka people as they believe that a child develops the characteristics of whoever...