Kunta Kinte was fictional. Alex Haley's book was largely fictional, with some elements of his real family history incorporated into the generations that were closer to his own time. He researched it a great deal, though, in order to get the lives of his fictional characters to be historically accurate. Then, Haley's publisher felt the book would sell better if it were marketed as a completely true story, so the marketing materials all said it was based on a true story. So, it was, but only certain elements of it, most was from Haley's imagination in an effort to convey what it was like to be a slave in that time and place. When the incredibly popular TV miniseries came out, it, too, was marketed as a true story, further cementing in the public mind the idea that the entire novel was real, when in fact only parts of it were based on real people.