Black History - Getty Images

Black history

Isabel Wilkerson on caste in America

Mary Seacole as seen in a contemporary photo. Although she became famous for her nursing work in the Crimean War, her story subsequently became largely forgotten. (Photo by Alamy)

History heroBernardine Evaristo chooses Mary Seacole (1805–1881)

Afua Hirsch with the Samburu people, Kenya

Africa’s cultural liberation

The American Civil War: everything you wanted to know

The magnificent ruins of the Great Mosque at Kilwa Kisiwani

Africa’s medieval golden age

National guardsmen confront confront citizens during Chicago's race riots

Red summer of 1919: the history of Chicago's race riots

American abolitionist and writer Frederick Douglass, c 1866. (Photo by Shutterstock)

African American abolitionists in Britain

Paul Stephenson and Guy Bailey

The great British civil rights scandal: the Bristol bus boycott

Freedom fighters: the enslaved people who fought for the abolition of slavery

The ship ‘Jesus of Lübeck’ was used in John Hawkins’ infamous early slaving voyages, some of which were sponsored by Elizabeth I. (Image by Alamy)

Were there slaves in Elizabethan England?

English admiral Sir Francis Drake (1540-1596), circa 1585. (Photo by Getty Images)

Francis Drake: slave trader

Francis Drake portrait

Francis Drake’s forgotten role in the English slave trade

American spotlight: how today’s protests echo historical outrage

Britain and the slave trade

American civil rights leader Martin Luther King

The civil rights movement: everything you wanted to know

From Nelson to Churchill: challenging British heroes with Afua Hirsch

Men operate a cotton gin in Dahomey, Mississippi, in 1898

7 key questions about the transatlantic slave trade – answered

A brief guide to the transatlantic slave trade

Abolition in Britain: the link between slavery and the British national identity

Woodcut illustration of slave labour on a sugar plantation

Success, sugar and slaves: the uncomfortable story of slaveholder Simon Taylor

Olaudah Equiano (Photo by Getty)

General Early Modern

Who was Olaudah Equiano – and why was his story of slavery so important?

An 1826 illustration from 'The Black Man's Lament

David Olusoga"Thousands of Britons opposed abolition – because they owned slaves"

Wrecked buildings in Los Angeles' South Central district following 1992 riots

The 1992 LA riots

Traditional Kente cloth from Ghana (Photo by Dreamstime)

A new view of Africa’s past

Hungarian Jews arrive at Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp in 1944

Editor’s pick9 top articles from the BBC World Histories archive to read right now

Emma Dabiri in conversation about her book 'Don't Touch My Hair'

"Afro-textured hair had no stigma before the dehumanisation of black people that emerged from slavery": Emma Dabiri discusses the changing perceptions of Afro-textured hair

How William Shakespeare shaped America

Rosa Parks (right) riding on a bus following the Supremacial segregation on Montgomery's public transit system. (Photo by Don Cravens/The LIFE Images Collection via Getty Images/Getty Images)

History heroGabby Logan chooses Rosa Parks (1913–2005)

Portrait of Madam CJ Walker, America's first female millionaire. (Photo courtesy of Madam Walker Family Archives/A'Lelia Bundles)

Self Made: the real story of Madam CJ Walker, America’s first black female millionaire

"We cannot walk alone": 26 August 1963 – As they hold hands, Martin Luther King Jr and the other leaders of the March On Washington For Jobs And Freedom make history. (Photo by Robert W. Kelley/The LIFE Picture Collection via Getty Images)

The story of Martin Luther King's struggle for civil rights in America