Release calendarTop 250 moviesMost popular moviesBrowse movies by genreTop box officeShowtimes & ticketsMovie newsIndia movie spotlight
    What's on TV & streamingTop 250 TV showsMost popular TV showsBrowse TV shows by genreTV news
    What to watchLatest trailersIMDb OriginalsIMDb PicksIMDb SpotlightFamily entertainment guideIMDb Podcasts
    OscarsEmmysToronto Int'l Film FestivalHispanic Heritage MonthIMDb Stars to WatchSTARmeter AwardsAwards CentralFestival CentralAll events
    Born todayMost popular celebsCelebrity news
    Help centerContributor zonePolls
For industry professionals
  • Language
  • Fully supported
  • English (United States)
    Partially supported
  • Français (Canada)
  • Français (France)
  • Deutsch (Deutschland)
  • हिंदी (भारत)
  • Italiano (Italia)
  • Português (Brasil)
  • Español (España)
  • Español (México)
Watchlist
Sign in
  • Fully supported
  • English (United States)
    Partially supported
  • Français (Canada)
  • Français (France)
  • Deutsch (Deutschland)
  • हिंदी (भारत)
  • Italiano (Italia)
  • Português (Brasil)
  • Español (España)
  • Español (México)
Use app
Episode guide
  • Cast & crew
  • User reviews
  • Trivia
  • FAQ
IMDbPro

The Book of Negroes

  • TV Mini Series
  • 2015
  • 44m
IMDb RATING
7.8/10
2.5K
YOUR RATING
POPULARITY
3,835
6,541
Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor in The Book of Negroes (2015)
The Book Of Negroes
Play trailer1:01
1 Video
21 Photos
Period DramaDramaHistoryWar

Kidnapped in Africa and subsequently enslaved in South Carolina, Aminata must navigate a revolution in New York, isolation in Nova Scotia, and the treacherous jungles of Sierra Leone to secu... Read allKidnapped in Africa and subsequently enslaved in South Carolina, Aminata must navigate a revolution in New York, isolation in Nova Scotia, and the treacherous jungles of Sierra Leone to secure her freedom in the 18th century.Kidnapped in Africa and subsequently enslaved in South Carolina, Aminata must navigate a revolution in New York, isolation in Nova Scotia, and the treacherous jungles of Sierra Leone to secure her freedom in the 18th century.

  • Stars
    • Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor
    • Lyriq Bent
    • Ben Chaplin
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    7.8/10
    2.5K
    YOUR RATING
    POPULARITY
    3,835
    6,541
    • Stars
      • Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor
      • Lyriq Bent
      • Ben Chaplin
    • 14User reviews
    • 6Critic reviews
  • See production info at IMDbPro
    • Awards
      • 19 wins & 26 nominations total

    Episodes6

    Browse episodes
    TopTop-rated1 season2015

    Videos1

    The Book Of Negroes
    Trailer 1:01
    The Book Of Negroes

    Photos20

    View Poster
    View Poster
    View Poster
    View Poster
    View Poster
    View Poster
    + 15
    View Poster

    Top cast96

    Edit
    Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor
    Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor
    • Aminata Diallo
    • 2015
    Lyriq Bent
    Lyriq Bent
    • Chekura Tiano
    • 2015
    Ben Chaplin
    Ben Chaplin
    • Cpt. John Clarkson
    • 2015
    Allan Hawco
    Allan Hawco
    • Solomon Lindo
    • 2015
    Greg Bryk
    Greg Bryk
    • Robertson Appleby
    • 2015
    Shailyn Pierre-Dixon
    Shailyn Pierre-Dixon
    • Young Aminata
    • 2015
    Cara Ricketts
    Cara Ricketts
    • Bertilda
    • 2015
    Sandra Caldwell
    Sandra Caldwell
    • Georgia
    • 2015
    Dwain Murphy
    Dwain Murphy
    • Claiborne
    • 2015
    Louis Gossett Jr.
    Louis Gossett Jr.
    • Daddy Moses
    • 2015
    Antonio David Lyons
    Antonio David Lyons
    • Happy Jack
    • 2015
    Siyabonga Xaba
    • Young Chekura
    • 2015
    Cuba Gooding Jr.
    Cuba Gooding Jr.
    • Sam Fraunces
    • 2015
    Armand Aucamp
    Armand Aucamp
    • Lieutenant Waters
    • 2015
    Robin Smith
    Robin Smith
    • William King
    • 2015
    Kyle M. Hamilton
    • Elijah…
    • 2015
    Joel Thomas Hynes
    Joel Thomas Hynes
    • Matthew Witherspoon
    • 2015
    Stephan James
    Stephan James
    • Cummings Shakspear
    • 2015
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews14

    7.82.4K
    1
    2
    3
    4
    5
    6
    7
    8
    9
    10

    Featured reviews

    10coachdeah

    Excellent Weekend Binge Watch

    Based on a bit of true history and a fictionalized book of the same name, this mini-series yields an aspect of the African slave story that I'd not known about before. Set in the late colonial / post-Revolutionary era, the story fills in some gaps left by Alex Haley's Roots chronicle.

    No doubt legitimate criticism could be made of the film regarding its perhaps overly romanticized version of real life for African slaves in the colonies, and the multiple, implausible transatlantic voyages of the main character, and the surprise ending. If you can look past those flaws, the movie holds interest and the principal actors give engaging performances.

    Two actual copies of the real Book of Negroes exist -- one in the National Archives in London, the other in National Archives in Washington DC.
    10seabreezelise

    A Must See

    This mini series is artfully and authentically written, acted and directed. Ms. Ellis and the cast are compelling and so believable. The story itself offers more of the complexities of the people and time period and reminds us of the vastness of a history that we have accepted on face value, as told to us from a very limited set of perspectives. This view hit me hard. A lesser told story of the Black family under the assault of genocide, racism, poverty, persecution and unthinkable acts of terror is explored here. The love story that often takes a second seat to those events, is, here, given a fuller and deeper expression. It was painful but so authentic, I was compelled to watch each episode and encourage all to do the same. There are a few moments when you want your children to close their eyes, and many when they will have questions and comments. It also demonstrates how even when the Caucasians considered themselves "good" to blacks, they were so entrenched in racism and superiority that they had to be made to know that their "good" was self-serving and constrained by their own indoctrination that they were inherently "better." It's a great way to explore history. Watch it.
    Prof_Lostiswitz

    Looks Interesting

    The Book of Negroes was an eighteenth century British document detailing all the Afro-Americans who had fought on the British side in the Revolutionary war, and were promised a new life elsewhere. A considerable number ended up in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. There were problems with the harsh climate and petty racism, but it was better than the alternative.

    This program takes its name from that, and the first episode looks quite satisfying, as we trace a black girl's odyssey from Mali to America.

    So far, it does not seem much different from Roots, but I will keep watching to see if something original turns up.
    6ma-cortes

    This is the Saga of an African girl, featuring Aminata Diallo well starred by Aunjanue Ellis

    Epic, intense TV series in 6 episodes about a young girl and then adult, depicting an intense dramatization of Aminata Diallo (Aunjanue Ellis), she is abducted from his African village, sold into slavery, and taken to America, her love story with Chekura (Lyriq Bent) who manages to escape and join Aminata, they have a daughter, who is eventually sold away from them , to her liberation. She is also befriended by British Cpt. John Clarkson (Ben Chaplin) and along the ways suffering cruel enslavement. Later on, she migrated from Nova Scotia to Sierra Leone, where they formed the original settlers of Freetown, under the auspices of the Sierra Leone Company. Throughout the series, Aminata efforts to secure her freedom in the eighteenth century, she must navigate a revolution, isolation in Nova Scotia and the treacherous jungles of Sierra Leone. Observing notable events in U. S. history, such as a revolutionary movement in New York, slave uprisings, and emancipation. Her testimony to lead the African-American people into freedom.

    The series deals with a young African woman captured in Africa as a child and subsequently enslaved in South Carolina, she is literate and acts as a scribe to record the information about the former slaves. The film packs crude scenes full of brutality and cruelty in which the African-American slaves suffer humiliations, flagellation, beating, degradation and mistreats by their owners Based on the novel concerning a saga of African-American life, in which Aminata witnesses countless atrocities - against herself and his fellow slaves ; being written by Canadian novelist Lawrence Hill, The Book of Negroes, (2007, published in the United States as Someone Knows My Name). It is inspired by the African Americans who were resettled in Nova Scotia, and some of them who later chose to go to Sierra Leone, where they created a colony of freedmen in Africa. The book won the top 2008 Commonwealth Writers' Prize notable African-American. The film displays nice acting talent at the time and several actors were solicited to join the cast. Support is frankly fine, such as : Cuba Gooding Jr, Greg Bryk, Jane Alexander, Ben Chaplin, Dwain Murphy , Allan Hawco, and Louis Gossett Jr. Canadian director Clement Virgo adapted decently the book into a six-hour television mini-series of the same title. The series premiered on CBC in Canada on 7 January 2015 and on BET in the United States on 16 February 2015.

    Based on historical events , in fact ¨The Book of Negroes¨ is a document created by Brigadier General Samuel Birch, that records names and descriptions of 3,000 Black Loyalists, enslaved Africans who escaped to the British lines during the American Revolution and were evacuated to points in Nova Scotia as free people of colour. African people were then brought as slaves to Nova Scotia during the founding of Louisbourg and Halifax. The first major migration of African people to Nova Scotia happened during the American Revolution. Enslaved Africans in America who escaped to the British during the American Revolutionary War became the first settlement of Black Nova Scotians and Black Canadians. Other Black Loyalists were transported to settlements in several islands in the West Indies and some to London. Recorded in 1783, this 150-page document is the only one to have recorded Black Canadians in a large, detailed scope of work. The document contains records on 3000 Africans; the former slaves recorded in the Book of Negroes were evacuated to British North America, where they were settled in the newly established Birchtown and other places in the colony. According to the Treaty of Paris (1783), the United States argued for the return of all property, including slaves. The British refused to return the slaves, to whom they had promised freedom during the war for joining their cause.
    2LaughingTigerIMDb

    Lovers of the book will be a bit disappointed

    I thought I had found the wrong series when first I saw lead actor Aunjanue Ellis on the DVD jacket-cover with a modern look (including makeup). A far cry from the book's original cover that included a modest, much darker-skinned woman whose look was to reflect that of being enslaved most of her life.

    But that's just the start of my experience with this series.

    I had read and enjoyed every gritty details of the book, simply because it was raw and heart-breaking, meant to make the reader feel something beyond their grasp. All of the ugly elements and consequences of rape, humiliation, personal loss, just to name a few things that rob someone of their dignity. The series seemed to cater to the ever-sensitive TV viewers who very likely needed to see slaves fully-clothed, clear-skinned, and bright-eyed. The series left out shocking details from the book, such as the infants that were thrown overboard (alive) on the first ship to the Americas. Once again, TV & Film find it too easy to spoon-feed the viewer only as much as they need to.

    This series consisted of six episodes. Surely they had some time to show a few shocking moments from the book.

    What's more, the very obvious sexual tension between Aminata and Sam seemed to be added for the viewers' pleasure since an absent husband just isn't as romantic.

    These details that the readers of the book know about that the viewing audience doesn't makes me wonder if there ever will be a bridge between literature and screen-writing, as we see it time and time again.

    I realize that this work is meant to be separate, and that Lawrence Hill did not write the screenplay, but I can't help but wonder why it is so necessary to take a subject as serious as this, during times like we are in now, and water it down with so much Hollywoodism.

    My answer for those who read the book and wonder if they'll also enjoy the series?: No. I did give it two stars simply because I did enjoy the cast and for what it's worth, they did a good job. The costuming, cinematography, sound.. all of it good, but just a disappointment when you know how the story goes and end up with so much less than you hoped.

    More like this

    Mother's Skin
    7.6
    Mother's Skin
    Hopeless Romantic
    7.4
    Hopeless Romantic
    Flankers
    7.5
    Flankers
    Legends and Lore of the North Atlantic
    8.2
    Legends and Lore of the North Atlantic
    7.6
    A Blessing from the Sea
    The Missus Downstairs
    8.0
    The Missus Downstairs
    What Odds
    7.8
    What Odds
    The Sparky Book
    7.9
    The Sparky Book
    Talus and Scree
    7.3
    Talus and Scree
    Two Square Feet
    7.3
    Two Square Feet
    7.5
    The Audience
    7.0
    Ashore

    Related interests

    Emma Watson, Saoirse Ronan, Florence Pugh, and Eliza Scanlen in Little Women (2019)
    Period Drama
    Mahershala Ali and Alex R. Hibbert in Moonlight (2016)
    Drama
    Liam Neeson in Schindler's List (1993)
    History
    Band of Brothers (2001)
    War

    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      Based on the name of the book that really existed, that had the names of Negroes who served the British during the Civil War, then were freed and sent to Nova Scotia to live. Publishers changed the name of the book from "Book of Negroes" to "Someone Knows My Name" because the term "Negro" has become a derogatory term to many people in the U.S., and sellers were hesitant to sell a book with that word in the title.

    Top picks

    Sign in to rate and Watchlist for personalized recommendations
    Sign in

    FAQ18

    • How many seasons does The Book of Negroes have?Powered by Alexa

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • February 16, 2015 (United States)
    • Country of origin
      • Canada
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • Someone Knows My Name
    • Filming locations
      • Fortress of Louisbourg National Historic Site, Louisbourg, Nova Scotia, Canada
    • Production companies
      • Conquering Lion Pictures
      • Out of Africa Entertainment
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Tech specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      • 44m
    • Color
      • Color
    • Sound mix
      • Stereo
    • Aspect ratio
      • 16:9 HD

    Contribute to this page

    Suggest an edit or add missing content
    • Learn more about contributing
    Edit pageAdd episode

    More to explore

    Recently viewed

    Please enable browser cookies to use this feature. Learn more.
    Get the IMDb App
    Sign in for more accessSign in for more access
    Follow IMDb on social
    Get the IMDb App
    For Android and iOS
    Get the IMDb App
    • Help
    • Site Index
    • IMDbPro
    • Box Office Mojo
    • License IMDb Data
    • Press Room
    • Advertising
    • Jobs
    • Conditions of Use
    • Privacy Policy
    • Your Ads Privacy Choices
    IMDb, an Amazon company

    © 1990-2025 by IMDb.com, Inc.