On Sunday night, January 23rd, 1977, 10-year-old Zinobia Harper found a comfortable spot in the

Dan of her South Carolina home.

Zenobea's mom had made her take a nap earlier that day to be sure she could stay awake

past 9 p.m.

We already had our night clothes on and get our little snack, popcorn or whatever,

and we'd lay on the floor, and we were there ready to watch. There was a conversation about whether

or not we should watch it, but then it was determined that, oh, no, no, we had to watch it.

Hundreds of miles away in Indiana, Stephanie Dunne was sitting on her mom's lap.

I was very young, but I still will never forget it. Tonight, we present a landmark in television

entertainment. After two years of production, we present this incredible saga in an epic motion picture,

Roots.

Roots was one of the most ambitious television projects ever.

A 12-hour history of American slavery aired on eight consecutive nights.

It laid bare the gruesome realities of the slave trade, beginning in the 18th century, with the capture of an African teenager named Kuntakinti.

Come on, in your go, in your go.

All right, lock it up.

I remember tears in my mom's eyes, just knowing the life that they're going to go to.

The first episode showed the horrors of the Middle Passage.

African captives shackled in the hold of a slave ship, forced to lie in their own excrement

and vomit.

I mean, gave nightmares.

I was traumatized. I mean, I was, you know, really torn up.

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