A big six-part miniseries said to be in the tradition of “Roots” begins tonight on BET. The epic “The Book of Negroes” (BET, 8 p.m.), from a best seller by Lawrence Hill, tells the little known story of African slaves in the 18th century who cut deals with the British during the American Revolution, to be given freedom in Nova Scotia in exchange of serving the loyalists.
The historical “Book of Negroes” that listed the loyalists who escaped to Canada, and in some cases the West Indies and London was recorded in 1783.
Shot in Canada and South Africa, the miniseries stars Aunjanue Ellis as the historical woman Aminata Diallo, who went through her ordeal and lived to write about it.
“The Book of Negroes,” which also features Cuba Gooding Jr., Louis Gossett Jr., Jane Alexander, Ben Chaplin and Allan Hawco, brings to life a story some may have read in Oprah’s book club under a different name, “Someone Knows My Name.”
During the TV Critics Association winter press tour last month, I asked author Hill why the name of his book was changed in the U.S.
“At the last minute,” Hill said, the American publisher W.W. Norton & Sons, were “worried that the title would offend African American readers and also that bookstores in the United States wouldn’t buy advance copies, given the title. So they changed the title at the last minute.
“It was something of concern to me, but I sort of had to go with it, with the compromise that was put before me,” he said.
But it’s all changed now. “With BET’s decision to release the miniseries as ‘The Book of Negroes’ my American publisher has accepted my request to re release the novel as ‘The Book of Negroes.’ So it’s now available in the United States as ‘The Book of Negroes,’ really for the first time. That was the reason why the title changed.”
The U.S. wasn’t the only place that had the mixup, he said.
“It also changed in New Zealand and in Australia, and in translation sometimes it’s directly translated from ‘The Book of Negroes,’ and other times from ‘Someone Knows My Name.’ So the title sort of has many lives in various countries.”
The miniseries continues through Wednesday on BET.