Black history
Listen to and download our programmes
Star Trek: America's first interracial TV kiss
In 1968, American television broadcast what's claimed to be the first interracial kiss
Release date:
The last of the Mau Mau fighters
In 1963 as Kenya gained independence, one of the last Mau Mau fighters laid down her arms
Release date:
Ashley Kriel: South Africa's anti-apartheid 'Che Guevara'
In the 1980s Ashley Kriel emerged as a leader of the struggle against white minority rule
Release date:
Nelson Mandela's incarceration at Robben Island
In 1964, Nelson Mandela was put in the maximum security prison on Robben Island
Release date:
Uncovering a lost burial ground in Rio
In 1996, Merced dos Anjos unearthed the New Blacks Cemetery under her home in Brazil
Release date:
How bloodshed in Selma led to the US Voting Rights Act 1965
In 1965, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was brought in to end racial discrimination
Release date:
King Kong: South Africa's first all-black musical
South Africa’s first musical with an all-black cast opened to critical acclaim in 1959
Release date:
Charleston church shooting
Polly Sheppard, a survivor of the 2015 Charleston shooting, describes how it unfolded
Release date:
Civil rights swim-in
In 1964, a civil rights swimming protest ended when acid was poured into the pool
Release date:
Emperor Haile Selassie in Bath
In 1936, the Emperor of Ethiopia Haile Selassie was exiled in Bath in the UK
Release date:
Waris Dirie
In 1987, Waris Dirie had her first photo-shoot and became a supermodel sensation
Release date:
Sarah Baartman's 200-year journey back home
The campaign to return Sarah Baartman to South Africa nearly 200 years after her death
Release date:
Major Charity Adams and the Six-Triple-Eight
The first African-American woman to lead a World War Two battalion
Release date:
Lucha Reyes: Peruvian music star
She overcame poverty, health problems and racism to become one of Peru’s greatest singers
Release date:
The Battle of Versailles: Catwalk clash of American and French fashion
In 1973 a fashion show was held in France which the media dubbed the Battle of Versailles
Release date:
Queen of the 'fro
In 1986, Charlotte Mensah went to work in the UK's first luxury Afro-Caribbean hair salon
Release date:
How Rosa Parks took a stand against racism
Rosa Parks' refusal to give up her bus seat helped end segregation in the United States
Release date:
The funeral of Nelson Mandela
In 2013, South Africa's first black president was buried in his ancestral village
Release date:
The Bristol bus boycott
How a protest by black activists in 1963 led to the UK's first anti-racism laws
Release date:
Ming Smith makes history at MoMA
MoMA bought photos from an African-American woman for the first time in 1979.
Release date:
The murder of black teenager Emmett Till
In 1955, Emmett Till, a black teenager from Chicago, was brutally murdered in Mississippi
Release date:
Petula Clark touches Harry Belafonte's arm
In 1968, when Petula Clark touched Harry Belafonte's arm, it made US TV history
Release date:
Octavia E. Butler: Visionary black sci-fi writer
She received numerous Hugos and Nebulas - top writing prizes for sci-fi writing
Release date:
The Harder They Come
Jimmy Cliff spoke about the film that brought reggae music to the world in 1972
Release date:























