When Kunta Kinte recovers somewhat from the savagery of amputation after yet another runaway attempt, he looks up in a haze on the face of Belle, who was already resident on the plantation he and Fiddler (Louis Gossett Jr.) were traded to.

He does not recognise her, of course, but Jamaican audiences would. They would not call her 'Belle', though; they would call her Madge Sinclair, a name very familiar to Jamaican audiences as one of their own.

Born in Jamaica, in April, 1938, Madge Sinclair was a teacher at home until she was 30 and went to the U.S. to pursue acting full-time. Her film debut was Conrack, in 1974, but it was Roots in 1977 that really won her accolades and a nomination for the prestigious Emmy Award.

Coming into the 1980s, when access to television in Jamaica was more widespread (and the introduction of colour television made her complexion that much more obvious), Jamaicans connected with Madge Sinclair through the long-running series, General Hospital. She earned multiple Emmy nominations, but a comment in a 1982 interview indicated that the issuesin Roots were far from being resolved:

"If I were a white actress who's done what I've done, I would have been asked to do substantial roles. But the climate isn't right for it," Sinclair said.

Among her many credits are appearances on Star Trek and a vocal part in Lion King.

Madge Sinclair was diagnosed with leukaemia in the 1980s and lived to 57, defying the doctor's predictions and working during her illness, dying in 1995 in Los Angeles, California.

- M.C.