In this essay, Blayney argues that prior to Roots white America did not perceive African Americans as having the same "noble" stature that had been accorded Native Americans.

Time Magazine called it "Haley's Comet" Black readers hailed it as the most important event in civil rights history since the 1965 march on Selma, Alabama. In January 1977 Roots was proclaimed the most popular television program in the medium's history, with the last of eight consecutive episodes reaching an unprecedented 90,000,000 viewers. Roots attracted a larger audience than such all-time favorites as Gone with the Wind and the 1977 Superbowl. Spurred by the television success, Alex Haley's novel went into fourteen printings after its initial publication in October 1976. During and after the nights it was telecast long lines formed outside bookstores displaying Roots. Those too impatient to wait broke into bookstores to obtain copies of the bestseller. Haley was instantly transformed from...