Revealing mistake: In episode 2, when Kunta Kinte is on the slave ship 'Lord Ligonier', the slaves are trying to take over. During the fight, one of them is going up to a white man and if you look up in the sky you can see a trail from an airplane.
Roots (1977)
1 revealing mistake in Part 2 - chronological order
Starring: Louis Gossett Jr., LeVar Burton, Robert Reed, John Amos, Ben Vereen, Lynda Day George, Olivia Cole
Part 1 Roots: The Saga of An American Family - S1-E1
Other mistake: During the voyage aboard the Lord Ligonier, none of the African captives have shaved nor had haircuts during the long voyage across the sea, but they are clean-shaven and their hair the same length when they berth in Annapolis as when they were first loaded aboard ship in Africa.
Evan Brent: And every step I take, every time my leg twinges on me I recollect who's responsible for all the pluses and minus that I got to live with now! Yeah, I recollect who done it to me... Ni**ers.
Trivia: Madge Sinclair and Leslie Uggams play mother and daughter. In real life, Sinclair was only five years older than Uggams.