Max Pearson presents a collection of this week’s Witness History episodes from the BBC World Service telling stories about inspirational black women.
In 1973, the Battle of Versailles pit up-and-coming American designers using black models against the more traditional French. We hear from Bethann Hardison, one of those black models, about how the capital of couture, Paris, became the stage for this defining moment in the history of fashion.
Professor Adrienne Jones, a fashion expert at the Pratt Insitute in New York, explains the cultural significance of the event, and what changed in the world of fashion afterwards.
Plus, the story of the UK’s first luxury Afro-Caribbean hair salon, Splinters, which opened as recently as the 1980s. Charlotte Mensah, known as the ‘Queen of the ‘fro’, recalls what it was like to work there. Part of her story includes an account racial bullying.
Also, archive interviews tell the story of how Rosa Parks defied racist segregation laws in the United States. It contains outdated and offensive language.
We hear how a Nigerian lawyer took on the country’s Sharia courts to overturn a death sentence.
And the tragic story of Lucha Reyes, one of Peru’s most beloved singers.
Contributors: Bethann Hardison- a model who competed in the Battle of Versailles. Prof Adrienne Jones- from the Pratt Institute in New York. Hauwa Ibrahim- one of the first female lawyers from northern Nigeria. Polo Bances- saxophonist who played alongside Lucha Reyes.
(Photo: Bethann Hardison and Armina Warsuma arriving in France. Credit: Photo by Michel Maurou/Reginald Gray/WWD/Penske Media via Getty Images)
Pad Thai, kiwis and the chef Ken Hom
Tsunamis and Caster Semenya
Mandela's funeral and Tsar's reburial
Doom and Danish brains
Saving animals from extinction and Cabbage Patch Kids
Zambia celebrates independence and the invention of bubble tea
The Eyjafjallajokull volcano eruption in Iceland and EpiPen invention
Pakistani popstars, and the hippo and the tortoise
Che Guevara's daughter and marrying Freddie Mercury
Gezi Park protests and MAD hijack
Osmondmania! and the launch of Lagos Fashion Week
The creation of Ghana's flag and the oldest person at primary school
Marking 50 years since the 1973 global oil crisis
The Lampedusa disaster and cat cafes
Nazi eugenics and the year of the vuvuzela
Israeli and Palestinian history
The Chilean coup and Zanzibar’s most famous singer
Historic Korean summit and goat island
Ireland's 'ghost estates' and the first Rose of Tralee
Judy Garland's legacy and the Benin Bronzes
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