Lawrence Hill: 'The Book of Negroes' speaks to race issues today

Lawrence Hill's novel "Book of Negroes" is making its TV debut in the six-part miniseries tonight on CBC TV. Lawrence Hill joins us with the series' star, Aunjanue Ellis to talk about bringing the book to the small screen, and how its themes of slavery and freedom still resonate today, in the age of Eric Garner and Michael Brown.

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It was just over a dozen years ago that author Lawrence Hill holed himself away at a friend's condo in Collingwood, Ontario, and set to work on a new novel. The book he produced would bring new life to a much older, long-forgotten book ... and then take on a life of its own.

Lawrence Hill's "Book of Negroes" does centre on a historical document of the same name -- a record of the Black loyalist slaves who served the British Army in America's revolutionary war, in return for the promise of freedom. The story's heroine is one name on that list. Aminata Diallo was kidnapped as a girl from Mali, and sent to a life of slavery in South Carolina.

In the years since its first publication, "The Book of Negroes" has become a much celebrated book, both here and abroad. Now, it's on its way to TV, as a six-part mini-series on CBC in Canada, and then on B.E.T. in the United States. And the 18th Century tale carries a new relevance now, with the backdrop of street protests south of the border over the deaths of Eric Garner and Michael Brown, in a society still grappling with the legacy of slavery.

Tonight, the six part mini-series of "The Book of Negroes" comes to life starting tonight on CBC Television at 9pm, and next month in the U.S. on B.E.T.

• Lawrence Hill is the author of "The Book of Negroes" and the co-writer of the script for the mini-series.

• Aunjanue Ellis is the actress who plays Aminata Diallo, the heroine of the story.

• Trace Aminata Diallo's long journey to freedom, through passages from the mini-series "The Book of Negroes." -- CBC.ca Interactive