I never read roots, but I can vividly remember watching the miniseries on tv when I was very young.
When Roots was televised, I did not have a TV. I lived in the inner city of Chicago at the time. My mother in law let me borrow the book to read, since I could not watch the series. I ended up, along with my first husband, being the brunt of a workmate's anger over the series. We did not know about the anger and indignation the series was causing for African Americans until that night.