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Episodes
The miniseries opens with the kidnapping of young Aminata from her West African village; and her treacherous journey to America.
Aminata fends off attentions from the two men who own her, as she tries to adjust to living on a plantation in the Carolinas.
The Revolution comes to New York and Aminata sees a chance to escape and seek freedom in the haven of Canvas Town.
Following a British defeat, Aminata helps Black Loyalists escape to freedom in Nova Scotia.
Racial tensions are enflamed in Nova Scotia as Aminata organizes a final return journey to Africa.
The series concludes with the party arriving in Africa, where Aminata leaves the Loyalists to make her way to her home village of Bayo.
The Book of Negroes: Season 1 Photos
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Critic Reviews for The Book of Negroes Season 1
All Critics (8) | Top Critics (5) | Fresh (8) | Rotten (0)
Graphic cruelty, not to mention violence, makes for difficult viewing in this lavishly produced miniseries. But it's worthwhile.
When I popped in BET's The Book of Negroes, I had a lot of preview screeners to get through, and only intended to sample it. Six hours later, I was still still sitting in pretty much the same position, riveted.
Historical tales like this can sometimes feel like homework - like "the right thing to do," or some sort of Black History Month obligation - but the creative team at work here makes The Book of Negroes a tough lesson worth learning.
This is an important series to consume fully and quickly, and then let it resonate.
[The heroine] is sometimes thwarted but never altered. If this makes The Book of Negroes less psychologically complex than it otherwise might be, there are real pleasures and comforts to be had from it.
The buried history of the secret second American Revolution this country would rather you never discover, of thousands of Northern slaves fighting alongside the Brits, in exchange for a promise of escape to freedom. Declaration Of Independence, indeed.
...a model for presenting a fictional story based on an admittedly terrible historical reality (the slave trade) without oversimplifying the moral and political issues involved.
The Book of Negroes is easily one of the best things to happen to television in quite some time.
Audience Reviews for The Book of Negroes: Season 1
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Jan 28, 2019Historical tales like this can sometimes feel like homework - like "the right thing to do," or some sort of Black History Month obligation - but the creative team at work here makes The Book of Negroes a tough lesson worth learning.
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May 25, 2018Nice enough reenactments of stories and adventures that could or have happened in the slave period of the englishes. Very english point of view with no subtitles english or french. Rather disappointing from the CBC. Saw it on dvd.
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Sep 05, 2015-The Book of Negroes is a miniseries based on the novel of the same name by Lawrence Hill. The six-part miniseries derives its origins from the historical document Book of Negroes and tells the story of a woman forcefully brought to South Carolina from West Africa at the time of the American Revolution. Clement Virgo and Hill collaborated on writing the miniseries, with Virgo also directing. It premiered on CBC in Canada on January 7, 2015 and on BET in the United States on February 16, 2015. -The title of the series and the novel is derived from an historical document which records names and descriptions of 3,000 African-American slaves who escaped to the British lines during the American Revolution and were evacuated by the British by ship to points in Nova Scotia as freed men. Clement Virgo and series producer Damon D'Oliveira purchased the rights to Hill's novel in 2009 and began work on a feature film script. CBC and BET came on board in 2010 to develop the feature script into a six-part miniseries. -The international co-production began shooting in February 2014 in Cape Town, South Africa. Filming also took place in various locations around Nova Scotia, Canada This included the Fortress of Louisbourg portraying 18th century New York City and Canvas Town, Lunenburg harbour portraying New York harbour and Shelburne's Dock Street appearing as historic Shelburne. Filming was completed by the beginning of June 2014. Reviews: -Metacritic which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 77 out of 100 based on 9 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews."
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Apr 11, 2015Pedestrian version of a great book. Cheap production values mar this production. A few good moments, but not worth 6 hours of your time. The lead actress is particularly annoying, partly in her portrayal and mostly due to the script. Amanata's grit and fearlessness is accurately portrayed within the historical context of the time in the book, but in the miniseries she is given a decidedly 21st. century persona. Implausible scenes abound like when she slaps or spits at Lindo or expresses indignation when he is upset that she has snuck her husband into his house and into her bed.
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