Black American History Special

The History Hour

BBC

History, Society & Culture, Personal Journals

4.4 • 879 Ratings

🗓️ 13 June 2020

⏱️ 50 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

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.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello and welcome to the History Hour podcast from the BBC World Service with me Max Pearson,
0:05.0	where this week in the light of recent events in America,
0:07.6	we're looking back at some key moments in US race relations in the 20th century, including the 1963 church bombing in Birmingham, Alabama.
0:16.5	It was the loudest sound I ever heard noise, ooh. And it scared me so bad I could just call out Jesus.
0:23.2	The three strikes in your outlaw that put many more black people in jail.
0:27.5	If you sell drugs you will be caught and when you're caught you will be prosecuted and once you're convicted you will do time.
0:37.0	Also the Black College basketball team that changed the face of American sports
0:42.0	We had just won the national championship.
0:44.4	For one year we were going to walk around saying
0:46.7	that we were the best team in the United States.
0:49.1	And Rodney King, who's beating by LA police in 1991 sparked riots.
0:54.0	Most hurting part about it was trying to hurry up and die,
0:58.0	just wishing they would just hurry up and finish me off
1:00.0	because it was so painful.
1:02.0	That's all coming up later in the podcast. The
1:04.3	killing of George Floyd, an African-American man by white police in Minneapolis,
1:08.6	has led to protests and violence in cities across the USA. It's been something of an explosion of pent-up
1:14.8	frustration on the part of the communities of colour. The context is clearly historical,
1:20.1	extending centuries into the past, but for us the focus is on living history, the testimony of those who were there.
1:27.0	To help us were joined by Gloria Brown Marshall, Professor of Law at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York and Professor Brown Marshall has been a prominent litigator in civil rights cases as well as a commentator and writer.
1:40.0	And Professor Brown Marshall, the events that we're going to hear about seemed like turning points at the time, and they may have been, but clearly not enough.
1:48.0	It's so true. So much of the change in the United States of America is born on the backs of African Americans
	...

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