Black history Podcast
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Episodes to download
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The Battle of Versailles: Catwalk clash of American and French fashion
Fri 9 Feb 2024
In 1973 a fashion show was held in France which the media dubbed the Battle of Versailles
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How Rosa Parks took a stand against racism
Thu 8 Feb 2024
Rosa Parks' refusal to give up her bus seat helped end segregation in the United States
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Lucha Reyes: Peruvian music star
Wed 7 Feb 2024
She overcame poverty, health problems and racism to become one of Peru’s greatest singers
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How a young mother was saved from death by stoning
Tue 6 Feb 2024
In 2003, human rights lawyer Hauwa Ibrahim defended Amina Lawal from death by stoning
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Queen of the 'fro
Mon 5 Feb 2024
In 1986, Charlotte Mensah went to work in the UK's first luxury Afro-Caribbean hair salon
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The funeral of Nelson Mandela
Fri 15 Dec 2023
In 2013, South Africa's first black president was buried in his ancestral village
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The Bristol bus boycott
Mon 28 Aug 2023
How a protest by black activists in 1963 led to the UK's first anti-racism laws
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The Empire Windrush arrives
Thu 22 Jun 2023
On 22 June 1948, the Empire Windrush docked at Tilbury in England
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Ming Smith makes history at MoMA
Fri 16 Jun 2023
MoMA bought photos from an African-American woman for the first time in 1979.
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Octavia E. Butler: Visionary black sci-fi writer
Mon 6 Mar 2023
She received numerous Hugos and Nebulas - top writing prizes for sci-fi writing
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Una Marson and the BBC Caribbean Service
Mon 19 Dec 2022
The BBC's first black producer, Una Marson, and the beginnings of the Caribbean Service
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The Little Black Book survival guide
Mon 31 Oct 2022
In 1985, a guide was written for young black men in the US who were stopped by the police
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The beginnings of Notting Hill Carnival
Fri 7 Oct 2022
In 1959, Claudia Jones held a Caribbean party, planting the seeds for the famous carnival
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The Harder They Come
Thu 6 Oct 2022
Jimmy Cliff spoke about the film that brought reggae music to the world in 1972
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The funk and soul club that changed Manchester
Mon 3 Oct 2022
Manchester’s first racially inclusive nightclub
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Civil Rights activist Ida B Wells
Tue 31 May 2022
How a pioneering African-American journalist campaigned against lynching in the US
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The death of Trayvon Martin
Thu 24 Feb 2022
The black Florida teenager killed by a Neighbourhood Watch volunteer while buying sweets.
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Black Jesus
Fri 2 Apr 2021
In 1967 an African American church minister began preaching that Jesus was black.
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Nasa's pioneering black women
Fri 23 Oct 2020
The mathematicians who worked behind the scenes on the American space programme
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Viv Anderson - first black England footballer—Sporting Witness
Thu 22 Oct 2020
In November 1978, the defender became the first black Englishman to play for his country.
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The Battle of Lewisham
Fri 9 Oct 2020
How anti-racists stopped a far-right march in South London in 1977.
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When Nelson Mandela went to Detroit
Wed 23 Sep 2020
Shortly after his release from prison the South African freedom fighter toured the USA
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The unlawful death of Christopher Alder
Tue 7 Jul 2020
The black former soldier choked to death on the floor of a British police station in 1998
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Three Strikes Law
Fri 12 Jun 2020
One man's experience of the controversial US law that saw thousands locked up for life
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Rodney King and the LA riots
Thu 11 Jun 2020
People rioted in Los Angeles after police who had assaulted a black man were acquitted
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Black basketball pioneers - Texas Western
Wed 10 Jun 2020
How an all-black college team overturned racist assumptions about basketball in the USA
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The 16th Street church bombing
Tue 9 Jun 2020
Four young black girls were killed in a racist attack on a church in Alabama in 1963
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Ann Lowe - African American fashion designer
Fri 29 May 2020
Ann Lowe designed Jackie Kennedy's wedding dress but for years few people knew her name
