Eyewitness accounts of important moments in recent African American history. We hear from the daughter of the man named in the court case which became a turning point in the battle for civil rights, plus the sister of a teenage girl killed in a racist bomb attack. We hear how the winning performance of an all-black basketball team helped change America's attitude to segregation in sport.  Plus Rodney King whose attack by police in 1991 was caught on camera and seen by millions - the later acquittal of the officers sparked days of rioting. Finally we hear from Bilal Chatman who was sentenced to 150 years in prison under the 1994 'three strikes law' which disproportionately affected black Americans. Putting it all into context, presenter Max Pearson talks to Professor Gloria Browne-Marshall of John Jay College of Criminal Justice.

Black American History Special

A compilation of the latest Witness History programmes.

Personal Journals

Society & Culture

History

Philosophy

Places & Travel

Max Pearson presents a collection of this week’s Witness History episodes from the BBC World Service. It's 30 years since Edvard Munch’s painting, The Scream, was stolen from the national gallery in Oslo, Norway. We hear from the man who helped to recover it. Our expert guest is historian and author, Susan Ronald, who explores the history of art heists in the 20th century. Plus, a first hand account from Kampala terror attacks in 2010 and the mystery of St Teresa of Avila's severed hand. Finally, we hear about the last World War II soldier to surrender. Hiroo Onoda was an Imperial Japanese Army intelligence officer who spent nearly 30 years in the Philippine jungle, believing World War Two was still going on. Contributors:
Kuddzu Isaac - DJ and Kampala terror attack survivor
Charley Hill - Scotland Yard art detective and private investigator
Susan Ronald - historian and author
Sister Jenifer - the Mother Superior of the Church of Our Lady of Mercy, Ronda
Hiroo Onoda  -  Japanese WWII soldier
Christos and Ioanna Kotsikas - residents of Thessaly, Greece (Photo: The Scream. Credit: Getty Images)

The history of art heists

Max Pearson presents a collection of this week’s Witness History episodes from the BBC World Service. It has been 50 years since Abba won the 1974 Eurovision Song Contest, so we're exploring Swedish history.
 
Also in 1974, Sweden became the first country in the world to offer paid parental leave that was gender neutral. One father who took the leave tells us about this pioneering policy.
 
We hear from one of the inventors of Bluetooth. The technology was named after Harald Bluetooth, a Viking king.
 
Our expert guest is Eva Krutmeijer, Swedish science writer and co-author of the book ' Innovation, the Swedish Way’.  Plus, the invention of the three-point safety belt for cars, that is estimated to have saved more than one million lives around the world, and the story behind Sweden’s Cinnamon Bun Day.
 
Finally, 1974 was just the beginning for the Swedish quartet, Abba, who shared their name with a herring company. By the end of the decade, they were one of most recognisable music acts of the 20th century. 
 
 
 
Contributors:
Per Edlund - one of the first fathers in his town to take split paid parental leave
Sven Mattison - one of the inventors of Bluetooth
Eva Krutmeijer - Swedish science writer and co-author of the book 'Innovation, the Swedish Way'
Gunnar Ornmark - stepson of Nils Bohlin who invented the three-point safety belt for cars
Kaeth Gardestedt - who came up with the idea of Sweden's Cinnamon Bun Day
Görel Hanser - manager of Abba
 
(Photo: Abba in 1974. Credit: Anwar Hussein/Getty Images)

Swedish History

It's 75 years since the founding of Nato. In 1949, a group of 12 countries formed the North Atlantic Treaty Organization to block the expansion of the Soviet Union. Professor Sten Rynning, the author of Nato: From Cold War to Ukraine, talks about some of the most significant moments in Nato's history. It's 30 years since the beginning of the Rwandan genocide. We hear from one of the survivors, Antoinette Mutabazi. This programme contains disturbing content. Plus, Riyaz Begum reflects on Britain's Mirpuri migration, Janet Heimlich, daughter of Dr Henry Heimlich talks about the origins of the Heimlich Manoeuvre and Adam Trimingham, Brighton based journalist and nudist David Johnson recall the arrival of Britain's first nudist beach. (Photo: British Foreign Secretary Ernest Bevin signs the North Atlantic Treaty. Credit: Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Seventy-five years of Nato and the Heimlich Manoeuvre

Max Pearson presents a collection of this week’s Witness History episodes from the BBC World Service. To mark 50 years since the discovery of the Terracotta Army, we're exploring modern Chinese history. We hear from the man who helped to modernise the Chinese language by creating a new writing system. It's called Pinyin and it used the Roman alphabet to help simplify Chinese characters into words. Our expert guest is the writer, Mark O'Neill, whose book 'The Man Who Made China a Literate Nation' forms the basis of a great discussion about historical language changes throughout history. Plus, a first hand experience of life in labour camps during Mao Zedong’s cultural revolution and the women forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese Imperial army during the 1930s. This programme contains disturbing content. Contributors:
Mark O'Neill - writer
Zhou Youguang - linguist
Jingyu Li - victim of Mao Zedong's labour camps
Peng Zhuying - survivor of sexual slavery
Yuan Zhongyi - archaeologist
Dr Li Xiuzhen - archaeologist
Simon Napier-Bell - manager of Wham (Photo: Terracotta Army. Credit: Getty Images)

Chinese history

First, we go back to 1992, when off the coast of Ireland, a Swiss geology student accidentally discovered the longest set of footprints made by the first four-legged animals to walk on earth. They pointed to a new date for the key milestone in evolution, when the first amphibians left the water 385 million years ago. Dr Frankie Dunn, who is a senior researcher in palaeobiology at the Oxford University Museum of Natural History in the UK, then dives into landmark discoveries in geological history.  Plus, the story of Winifred Atwell, a classically-trained pianist from Trinidad who was admired by Queen Elizabeth II and Sir Elton John. She became one of the best-selling artists of the 1950s in the UK.  Then, how the Guarani, an indigenous language of South America, was designated an official language in Paraguay’s new constitution, alongside Spanish. Also, the lesser known last eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 1944. Finally, Indian badminton player Rajeev Bagga who has won 14 gold medals at the Deaflympics. In 2001, he was given the ‘Deaflympian of the Century’ award. Contributors:
Iwan Stössel - Swiss Geologist.
Dr Frankie Dunn - Senior Researcher in Palaeobiology at the Oxford University Museum of Natural History in the UK.
David Olivera - Paraguayan Linguist and Anthropologist.
Angelina Formisano -  Evacuated from the village of San Sebastiano during the 1944 eruption of Mount Vesuvius.
Rajeev Bagga - Indian Badminton Player. (Picture: Illustration of a tetrapod from the Late Devonian period. Credit: Christian Jegou/Science Photo Library)

Black American History Special

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