Continuity mistake: When Chicken George comes back for the first time and sees Matilda, he walks towards her and takes off his white gloves. He is then seen hugging her with the white gloves back on.
Continuity mistake: At the camp, holding the black people after cruising them away, the man steals the drum sticks. He plays the drums with one stick upside-down, and in the next scene, they are gone.
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.
Part 1 Roots: The Saga of An American Family - S1-E1
Factual error: The slave ship 'Lord Ligonier' flies the White Ensign. This has always been reserved for the Royal Navy; British merchant ships (as American ships were in 1765) have flown the Red Ensign since 1674.
Part 1 Roots: The Saga of An American Family - S1-E1
Other mistake: Where is the light in Kunte/Toby's slave cabin coming from? There are no candles or lantern, and electricity hadn't been invented yet. Obviously studio lighting.
Part 1 Roots: The Saga of An American Family - S1-E1
Revealing mistake: The young men are all in a lineup, preparing to be circumcised, when the camera pulls back to an obtuse shot of the lineup, whence they're all wearing African drawers. Either for modesty purposes, or purely a filming error.
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.
