Sixty years ago, there was a boycott of local bus services in the English city of Bristol. The bus company had specified that it did not want to employ black bus drivers.
The boycott ended on 28 August 1963 and the campaign helped to bring about Britain's first laws against racial discrimination.
In 2013, Louise Hidalgo heard from Paul Stephenson and Roy Hackett, who died in 2022.
This programme contains some racist language, used at the time.
(Photo: Bus on Park Street in Bristol in the early 1960s. Credit: Fox Photos/Getty Images)
28/8/2023
9:58
The Empire Windrush arrives
The Empire Windrush docked at Tilbury in England on 22 June 1948 with 802 people on board from the Caribbean.
The former passenger liner's arrival on that misty June day is now regarded as the symbolic starting point of a wave of Caribbean migration between 1948 and 1971 known as the "Windrush generation".
Sam King was one of the passengers.
He describes to Alan Johnston the conditions on board and the concerns people had about finding jobs in England.
In this programme first broadcast in 2011, Sam also talks about what life was like in their adopted country once they arrived.
(Photo: Empire Windrush at Tilbury docks in 1948. Credit: Daily Herald Archive/SSPL/Getty Images)
22/6/2023
8:58
Ming Smith makes history at MoMA
In 1979, The Museum of Modern Art, (MoMA) purchased photographs from an African-American woman for the first time in its history.
Ming Smith was famous for capturing her subjects with slow shutter speeds and using oil paints to layer colour onto her black and white photos.
She worked as a model in New York in the 1970s, while pursuing her passion for photography and was friends with Grace Jones.
Ming took a powerful image of Grace performing at the iconic Studio 54 nightclub in 1978 after meeting her at an audition.
Ming was also a backing dancer in Tina Turner’s music video for What’s Love Got to Do with It, where she captured Tina glancing away from the camera, in front of Brooklyn Bridge wearing a leather skirt, denim jacket and patent stilettos with huge spiky hair.
Ming speaks to Reena Stanton-Sharma about graduating with a degree in microbiology, modelling and struggling to make a living, and then becoming a famous photographer with a retrospective at MoMA in 2023.
(Photo: Tina Turner, What’s Love Got to Do with It. Credit: Ming Smith)
16/6/2023
10:02
Octavia E. Butler: Visionary black sci-fi writer
In 1995, Octavia E Butler became the first author to receive a MacArthur “genius” award for science fiction writing.
From a young age she dreamed of writing books, but faced many challenges, including poverty, sexism and racism in the publishing industry.
She died aged 58 in 2006. Alex Collins speaks to her friend and fellow author Nisi Shawl.
(Photo: Octavia E. Butler. Credit: Getty Images)
6/3/2023
8:58
Una Marson and the BBC Caribbean Service
To mark the 90th anniversary of the BBC World Service, we trace the development of the Caribbean Service.
Its beginnings go back to the early 1940s when the BBC’s first black producer, Una Marson was employed.
She created Caribbean Voices, which gave future Nobel laureates such as Derek Walcott their first international platform.
In 1969, one of the UK’s best known newsreaders, Sir Trevor McDonald, left Trinidad to join the BBC Caribbean Service as a producer.
He reflects on its legacy. Produced and presented by Josephine McDermott.
Archive recording of West Indies Calling from 1943, is used courtesy of the Imperial War Museum. Una Marson's poem Black Burden is used courtesy of Peepal Tree Press and the BBC Caribbean Service archive material was provided by the Alma Jordan Library, The University of the West Indies.
(Photo: Sir Trevor McDonald and Una Marson. Credit: BBC)