BLACK BRITISH HISTORY RESOURCES
Get hooked
If we’ve whetted your appetite for black British history, why not explore the topic further with our pick of books, podcasts and TV and radio programmes?
BOOKS
Black and British: A Forgotten History
By Prof David Olusoga
(Pan Macmillan, 2016)
Black British history cannot be separated, or marginalised, from British history, says Prof David Olusoga in this compelling and comprehensive account, encompassing everything from Roman times to the Windrush scandal.
Black Tudors: The Untold Story
By Dr Miranda Kaufmann
(Oneworld Publications, 2017)
Dr Miranda Kaufmann delves deep into the archives to piece together the stories of 10 black people who lived and worked in Tudor England: from a royal trumpeter to a sailor who went on a circumnavigation of the world.
African and Caribbean People in Britain: A History
By Prof Hakim Adi
(Allen Lane, 2022)
This major and wide-ranging new history relates the experiences of African and Caribbean people in Britain – not just since the mid-20th century, but over the last couple of millennia. The result is a goliath achievement.
Black Poppies: Britain’s Black Community and the Great War
By Stephen Bourne
(The History Press, 2014)
In WWI, black Britons and men from across the empire signed up to serve the ‘mother country’. Their often-overlooked tales of heroism, in the face of prejudice, are brought to life here through firsthand accounts and photographs.
ON THE BBC
Britain’s Black Past
Prof Gretchen Gerzina explores the lives of famous black figures in 18th and 19th-century Britain, from Dido Elizabeth Belle to Ignatius Sancho (pictured).
The Amazing Life of Olaudah Equiano
This documentary tells the remarkable story of Olaudah Equiano: the former slave whose memoirs helped promote the abolitionist cause.
Archive on 4: The British Black Panthers
Prof Kehinde Andrews (pictured) meets members of the British Black Panthers, and – with the help of numerous contributors – assesses their legacy.
ONLINE AND AUDIO
► For podcasts, features, quizzes, interviews and more on black British history, visit our website: historyextra.com/topic/black-history
► Wartime Britain’s mixed-race babies
Prof Lucy Bland discusses the childhood experiences of babies of African-American GIs stationed in Britain during World War II. Listen at bit.ly/3quthFN
► Black radicalism with Kehinde Andrews
Prof Kehinde Andrews offers his opinions on issues including Black History Month, reparations for slavery and history education. Listen at bit.ly/3d8uijJ
► The great British civil rights scandal: the Bristol bus boycott
Three leading figures in 1963’s Bristol bus boycott talk about how their crusade changed the face of civil rights in Britain. Read at bit.ly/3TV2GPL
WATCH
Black is the New Black
(streaming on BBC iPlayer)
Sir Trevor McDonald and Naomi Campbell are just two of the personalities relating their experiences of being black and British, across four illuminating episodes.
Salt, by Selina Thompson
(streaming on BBC iPlayer)
Performance artist Selina Thompson retraces the route of the transatlantic slave trade in a deeply moving and personal piece about race, colonialism, collective grief, identity and family.