TV SERIES · 1977– · USA
Roots
22 archived facts 4 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
All facts (22)
- #001
Author Harold Courlander successfully sued author Alex Haley, claiming that Haley had plagiarized portions of his novel "The African" for the 1976 novel "Roots," on which the miniseries was based. Haley paid $650,000 in an out-of-court settlement in 1978.
- #002
Although it was presented as a true story, large portions of the series were later shown to be entirely fictional.
- #003
In the scene featuring O. J. Simpson as Kadi Touray, the chase of Kunta Kinte had to be reshot because LeVar Burton actually outran Simpson, even though Simpson was still an active NFL player at the time. Simpson asked Burton to slow down and let himself be caught so the scene could be completed.
- #004
When the miniseries first aired on ABC, it was presented as the true history of Alex Haley's family. Historians and genealogists found critical errors in his research; much of the story is either unsupported or contradicted by available evidence.
- #005
It received thirty-seven Emmy Award nominations and won nine of them. It was the first show to be nominated in every Emmy acting category.
- #006
The series is set between 1750 and 1870.
- #007
Sandy Duncan did not realize how terrible a person Missy Anne Reynolds was when she first read for the role. She later told her fellow actor Leslie Uggams that she did not know whether she would ever have taken the part.
- #008
It was the first show to receive at least twenty major Emmy nominations; with the Creative Arts categories included, the total comes to thirty-seven. Both records still stand for all shows.
- #009
Leslie Uggams said that the Black actors connected with their characters so deeply that most were not acting at all; they felt literally as if they had been possessed by the spirits of their ancestors.
- #010
LeVar Burton (Kunta Kinte) and Louis Gossett Jr. (Fiddler) are the only actors who reprised their roles in Roots: The Gift (1988).
- #011
ABC originally aired the series as eight episodes. The first, second, sixth and eighth episodes each ran two hours, while the third, fourth, fifth and seventh each ran one hour. It was packaged as six two-hour episodes for VHS, DVD and rebroadcast, but the 2016 Blu-ray set restores the original eight-episode format.
- #012
When it emerged that Alex Haley had invented many details, the series drew heavy backlash. Some argued the reaction would have been less severe if he had not tried to present his book as the true story of his ancestors and had instead acknowledged it as a fictional novel.
- #013
Many actors said in interviews that Sandy Duncan was largely hated on set. The reason was that the African-American actors were so method-oriented; they were so attached to their characters that they began to believe this was actually their own reality, and they also took on their characters' traits and relationships.
- #014
Georg Stanford Brown (Tom Harvey) and Lynne Moody (Irene Harvey) are the only actors who reprised their roles in Roots: The Next Generations (1979).
- #015
The child who played baby Kunta grew up with his two older brothers and his younger brother to form the successful 1980s singing group The Boys.
- #016
The producers cast famous TV fathers as slave owners, hoping that these actors' biased sympathies would show that even the most likable of them were still slave owners and would shock viewers as they watched.
- #017
Maya Angelou played Cicely Tyson's mother even though she was in reality 4 years older than Cicely.
- #018
The actors who played Kizzy, George and Tom Harvey were born three years apart. Leslie Uggams and Georg Stanford Brown were born in 1943, and Ben Vereen in 1946. This means Tom was actually three years older than his father, and Kizzy three years older than her son.
- #019
Ernest Thomas was screen-tested for the role of Kunta Kinte.
- #020
This was Lillian Randolph's final television appearance.
- #021
European settlers from North America did not personally capture slaves in Africa. In reality, slaves were sold to European settlers by African chiefs and Arab traders.
- #022
To keep white viewers watching, famous white actors appeared at regular intervals in the series.
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