THE NEW YORK TIMES
By Melenda Ryzik
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| Regé-Jean Page and Anika Noni Rose in the remake of “Roots,” which will air over four nights starting on Memorial Day. |
In a wooded grove in this town near Baton Rouge, La., a television crew was meticulously recreating the brutal Civil War battle of Fort Pillow, for a remake of
“Roots,” the seminal mini-series about slavery. The carnage in the fight was significant: After Union soldiers surrendered, the Confederates disproportionately took white soldiers hostage as prisoners of war and slaughtered hundreds of black soldiers, sending survivors into the slave trade. This massacre was not in the original “Roots,” broadcast in 1977, which is exactly why the producers of the new one chose to include it. It is one of many unexpected historical details put onscreen in “Roots,” which will air over four nights starting on Memorial Day. [
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“Roots,” will air over four nights starting on Memorial Day. It will be simulcast on the History, Lifetime and A&E channels
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| Malachi Kirby who plays Kunta Kinte in the remade version of “Roots.” Credit Steve Dietl/History
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