African American man allegedly kidnapped a white woman and forced her to watch a 1977 slavery mini-series called Roots in a bid to make her “understand her racisim”.

Cedar Rapids Police Department in US state of Iowa arrested 52-year-old Robert Noye on Monday on charges of first-degree harassment and false imprisonment.

A complaint stated he allegedly forced the woman to sit with him at a local residence to watch the mini-series so she could “better understand her racism”.

When the woman attempted to leave, Noye told her to “remain seated and watch the movie with him or he would kill her and spread her body parts across Interstate 380 on the way to Chicago”, according to the Gazette.

Roots is a celebrated mini-series created about author Alex Haley’s family line. He first penned the novel in 1976 before it was filmed in 1977.

The story follows one African American family through multiple generations, starting first in The Gambia, West Africa, in the 1750s. The final generation featured in the mini-series shows the family line in post-Civil War America.

After Roots was released, it went on to earn 37 Primetime Emmy Award nominations, winning nine of those. The series also won a Golden Globe and a Peabody Award.

It is unclear if Noye made the woman watch the entire nine-hour series during her kidnapping.

He is currently in police custody on his two charges.