What Is ‘The Book of Negros’?

BET Networks will launch The Book of Negroes, a six-hour miniseries based on the Lawrence Hill novel, Someone Knows My Name. The title The Book of Negroes refers to the historical document that “records the names and descriptions of 3,000 African-American slaves who had to work for the British army during the American Revolution in order to qualify for their freedom and were evacuated by the British by ship to points in Nova Scotia.”

The miniseries, The Book of Negroes, follows the life of Aminata Diallo (Aunjanue Ellis), an African woman who is kidnapped by slave traders in West Africa and enslaved in South Carolina. Fleeing to Canada after the Revolutionary War, she escapes to attempt a new life in freedom. The Book of Negroes will premiere on Monday, February 16 at 8pm. The series, starring actress Aunjanue Ellis (Ray, The Help), Oscar Winner Cuba Gooding Jr., Oscar & Emmy Winner Louis Gossett Jr., and Lyriq Bent (Rookie Blue), will run over the course of three consecutive nights in two-hour installments.