30 years ago this month the hugely powerful miniseries "Roots" was aired for the first time.

The eight-part, 12-hour miniseries, based on the best-selling book, "Roots: The Saga of an American Family," by Alex Haley, was of historical importance and it should be remembered.

Haley's novel renders his family's history, telling the story of Kunta Kinte, a West African teenager captured and sold into slavery in America. Kinte endures the horrors of the Middle Passage and chattel slavery, and his survival, like that of millions of Africans during the same period, is central to the development of the USA.

Before its adaptation into a television miniseries, Haley's 1976 book sold millions of copies. It was translated into numerous languages, and earned Haley a variety of writing accolades, including a Pulitzer Prize special award in 1977.

The miniseries earned sky-high primetime ratings on network television in America -- including a record-setting 80 million viewers for the final episode.
The cultural significance of “Roots” was enormous.

To begin with , "Roots" finally forced white America to face the history of slavery up close. Until then, slavery was rarely discussed in America, and public understanding of it was often full of stereotypes and misinformation.

When the program originally aired, television critic Sander Vancour wrote in the Washington Post," What makes “Roots” so compellingly unique is that television is finally dealing with the institution of slavery and its effect on succeeding generations of one family."

Sadly, the lessons from "Roots" are still needed today.
On Martin Luther King Day, Frank Hargrove, a Republican lawmaker in Virginia's House of Delegates, created an uproar when he said that blacks "should get over" slavery. (Since the misguided comment, Hargrove has said that he thinks "we can all agree that the end of slavery was a good thing.")

"Roots" inspired millions of African-Americans to seek out, without fear or shame, their genealogical links to Africa, a practice that is still popular today.
Thirty years later, "Roots" remains relevant.