Black history Podcast
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Episodes to download
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Civil rights swim-in
Wed 18 Jun 2025
In 1964, a civil rights swimming protest ended when acid was poured into the pool
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Charleston church shooting
Tue 17 Jun 2025
Polly Sheppard, a survivor of the 2015 Charleston shooting, describes how it unfolded
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King Kong: South Africa's first all-black musical
Tue 11 Mar 2025
South Africa’s first musical with an all-black cast opened to critical acclaim in 1959
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How bloodshed in Selma led to the US Voting Rights Act 1965
Fri 7 Mar 2025
In 1965, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was brought in to end racial discrimination
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Emperor Haile Selassie in Bath
Tue 10 Sep 2024
In 1936, the Emperor of Ethiopia Haile Selassie was exiled in Bath in the UK
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Waris Dirie
Wed 28 Aug 2024
In 1987, Waris Dirie had her first photo-shoot and became a supermodel sensation
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Sarah Baartman's 200-year journey back home
Sun 28 Apr 2024
The campaign to return Sarah Baartman to South Africa nearly 200 years after her death
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Major Charity Adams and the Six-Triple-Eight
Fri 19 Apr 2024
The first African-American woman to lead a World War Two battalion
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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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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
