# data[].attributes.body
CO - TED-Ed 5.45
Why do we love (and need) dystopian literature?

# data[].attributes.body
Protests against racism and the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis have re-ignited demands in many places around the world to destroy or revise symbols of those who engaged in slavery, who were often honoured in their lifetimes and whose names and faces often remain in the public eye as statues, buildings or institutions.

# data[].attributes.headline
WHAT DO WE DO WITH THE UK’S SYMBOLS OF SLAVERY ?

# data[].attributes.subject
WHAT DO WE DO WITH THE UK’S SYMBOLS OF SLAVERY ?

# data[].attributes.body
Protesters across the UK are asking for statues and symbols across the UK to be changed or removed.

CO - BBC 3.57

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Philonise Floyd, brother of George Floyd, spoke at a House Judiciary Committee hearing about police brutality and racial profiling.

He said his brother "didn't deserve to die over $20" and urged lawmakers to ensure he did not die "in vain".

Mr Floyd died in Minneapolis last month as a white police officer held a knee on his neck for nearly nine minutes.

The police had been called after a report that Mr Floyd had used a counterfeit $20 (£16.20) bill.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
What do we do with the UK's symbols of slavery?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Millions around the world have seen the image of slave trader Edward Colston's statue being pulled down in Bristol. Black Lives Matter protesters took it to the harbour and threw it into the water. Bristol Council have now said it will be dredged up and put into a museum.

# data[].attributes.body
In the U.S.A., statues of explorer Christopher Columbus and Confederate generals, who fought against the abolition of slavery in the Civil War, have been attacked and criticised.

On 7 June, people in Bristol, England, protesting about George Floyd’s death, physically removed a statue of former slave trader Edward Colston, one of many slave traders who made their fortunes in one of the busiest slave ports in the world.

Colston was honoured with a statue not because of his slave trading but his philanthropy: he left his considerable fortune to city charities, but the fortune was of course made literally on the backs of slaves.

# data[].attributes.headline
PLACARDS LEFT IN THE PLACE OF THE COLSTON STATUE

# data[].attributes.subject
PLACARDS LEFT IN THE PLACE OF THE COLSTON STATUE

# data[].attributes.headline
BANKSY UNVEILS ART IN SUPPORT OF BLACK LIVES MATTER 

# data[].attributes.subject
BANKSY UNVEILS ART IN SUPPORT OF BLACK LIVES MATTER 

# data[].attributes.body
The anonymous artist shared new artwork and a statement on Instagram in light of recent civil rights protests worldwide.

# data[].attributes.headline
WHY MONUMENTS IN THE US ARE BEING TAKEN DOWN ?

# data[].attributes.subject
WHY MONUMENTS IN THE US ARE BEING TAKEN DOWN ?

# data[].attributes.body
Statues of leading figures of the Confederacy, as well as those that depict people of colour as inferior, are being reconsidered.

July 8, 2020, 10:45 PM

Council leaders in a Mississippi city named after President Andrew Jackson have voted to remove a statue of him, in the latest move to reconsider statues of people with ties to slavery or the Confederacy.

There has been long debate around many of the statues being discussed, but it was recently ignited again after the death of George Floyd and the subsequent Black Lives Matter marches.

The removal of statues isn't just happening in the US. The statue of Winston Churchill in London's Parliament Square was vandalised and was later boarded up for protection, while statues of King Leopold II have been removed in Belgium.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Why monuments in the US are being taken down

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Statues of leading figures of the Confederacy, as well as those that depict people of colour as inferior, are being reconsidered.

# data[].attributes.headline
Jen Reid: Bristol Black Lives Matter statue removed

# data[].attributes.subject
Jen Reid: Bristol Black Lives Matter statue removed

# data[].attributes.body
A sculpture of a Black Lives Matter protester has been removed from the plinth where a statue of slave trader Edward Colston once stood.

The sculpture of Jen Reid was erected on Wednesday but removed by Bristol City Council just over 24 hours later.

Ms Reid had been photographed standing on the empty plinth after the Colston statue was pulled down during protests.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
A sculpture of a Black Lives Matter protester has been removed from the plinth where a statue of slave trader Edward Colston once stood.

The sculpture of Jen Reid was erected on Wednesday but removed by Bristol City Council just over 24 hours later.

Ms Reid had been photographed standing on the empty plinth after the Colston statue was pulled down during protests.

Mayor Marvin Rees said it was up to the people of Bristol to decide what would replace Colston's statue.

Bristol City Council contractors removed the sculpture of Ms Reid and took it away in the back of a lorry by 05:30 BST on Thursday.

The black resin statue of Ms Reid, called A Surge of Power, was created by artist Marc Quinn and designed to be a temporary installation to continue the conversation about racism.

He said he was inspired to create it after seeing an image of her standing on the plinth with her fist raised during the Black Lives Matter protest on 7 June.

How many statues of black people does the UK have?

Mayor receives racist letters after statue toppled

Photographer records reactions to Colston fall

Mr Quinn then contacted Ms Reid through social media and they worked together on the statue, which was erected shortly before 04:30 on Wednesday.

Ms Reid said she had felt an "overwhelming impulse" to climb on to the plinth during last month's protest, and the sculpture "is about making a stand for my mother, for my daughter, for black people like me".

Speaking in a Facebook Q&A, Mr Rees said it was important to gauge people's opinions on a replacement for the Colston statue, but he felt an empty plinth was "a very powerful statement at this time".

He told BBC Radio 5 live that how race was navigated in the UK was a "delicate balance", adding: "Running around provoking debate without any awareness of the potential consequences of that debate is not OK.

"We have to approach things with wisdom, which is why we've set out a process that revolves around a history commission telling the full story of Bristol so that the city is much more informed and is in a better position to collectively decide who it wants to honour and where."

The mayor previously said the sculpture was "the work and decision of a London-based artist" and permission was not requested for it to be installed.

The authority tweeted to say the sculpture of Ms Reid would be held at its museum "for the artist to collect or donate to our collection".

Mr Rees said he would "really welcome a contribution" from Mr Quinn as it had cost the authority money to remove the statue.

Protesters used ropes to pull the Colston statue, which had been at the city centre site since 1895, from its plinth last month.

It was then dragged to the harbourside, where it was thrown into the water at Pero's Bridge - named in honour of enslaved man Pero Jones who lived and died in Bristol.

The council later retrieved the statue, and said it would be displayed in a museum along with placards from the protest.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Black Lives Matter protester statue removed

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
A sculpture of a Black Lives Matter protester has been removed from the plinth where a statue of slave trader Edward Colston once stood. The sculpture of Jen Reid was erected on Wednesday but removed by Bristol City Council just over 24 hours later.

# data[].attributes.headline
'I helped Black Lives Matter without protesting'

# data[].attributes.subject
'I helped Black Lives Matter without protesting'

# data[].attributes.body
2.50Three people have been telling the BBC how they've been supporting Black Lives Matter, and educating their friends and family, without going out to protest.

Joshua Smith, from Bath, made a poem and created a project to help educate his friends and family on white privilege and race.

Paul Shonowo, from London, started creating free websites for black owned business to help grow the black economy.

And Beverley Momenabadi, from Wolverhampton, made a video with young people to highlight the injustices of racism.

CO - BBC 2.50

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
'I helped Black Lives Matter without protesting'

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Three people share what they have done to support Black Lives Matter without going to protests.

# data[].attributes.headline
The story of Rosa Parks, as told by the Horrible Histories gang...

# data[].attributes.subject
The story of Rosa Parks, as told by the Horrible Histories gang...

# data[].attributes.body
CO - BBC 2.51

# data[].attributes.headline
California surpasses 4 million acres burned as battle against wildfires goes on

# data[].attributes.subject
California surpasses 4 million acres burned as battle against wildfires goes on

# data[].attributes.body
Firefighters are battling more than 20 active wildfires in the state.

CO - ABC 8.35

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
'It's Not Too Late': Climate change at the presidential debate

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The women's suffrage movement was a decades-long fight to win the right to vote for women in the United States. Beginning with the Woman's Rights Convention in 1848 it was on Aug. 18, 1920, that the 19th Amendment to the Constitution was finally ratified.

An illustration depicting Elizabeth Cady Stanton speaking during the first Woman's Rights Convention, held in the Wesleyan Methodist Chapel in Seneca Falls, N.Y., July 19, 1848.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The 100th anniversary of the passage of the 19th Amendment

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The women's suffrage movement was a decades-long fight to win the right to vote for women in the United States. Beginning with the Woman's Rights Convention in 1848 it was on Aug. 18, 1920, that the 19th Amendment to the Constitution was finally ratified.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Black History Month presents an opportunity to highlight historical episodes and figures not given due (or any) prominence in UK schools.

Here are 10 examples of black history I was not taught in school.

1. West Indian soldiers in the first world war

The contributions of the 15,204 men who served in the British West Indies Regiment have largely been forgotten in the UK's remembrance of the great war.

From the Bahamas to British Guiana, men across the West Indian colonies heeded the call for volunteers from the "mother country" in 1915 at their own expense and peril.

They weren't allowed to fight alongside white soldiers and faced racism from their comrades and enemy soldiers alike. From the trenches of the western front to the theatres of the Middle East and Africa, they carried out dangerous jobs such as loading ammunition, laying telephone wires and digging trenches. There is evidence some also saw combat.

After the armistice, they were moved to an army base in Taranto, Italy, and tasked with loading ammunition and cleaning clothes and latrines for white soldiers, who were given a pay rise. Broken by this final indignity, the soldiers mutinied. One was executed, others jailed, and they were excluded from the victory parades that marked the end of the war.

2. The Bristol bus boycott

Roy Hackett, who was part of the Bristol bus boycott of 1963, on a mural in Bristol. Photograph: Olumedia/The Guardian

A watershed moment in the UK's civil rights struggle was a boycott of the Bristol bus network after 18-year-old Guy Bailey was turned away from a job interview at the state-owned Bristol Omnibus Company because he was black. The policy was an open secret at the company and was legal at the time.

Members of the black community, organised by Paul Stephenson, Roy Hackett and Bailey and supported by many of their white neighbours, led a boycott of the buses in protest in 1963. After four months, the bus company relented. The victory proved a milestone, overturning the ban on ethnic minorities working on Bristol's buses and marking a significant step towards the UK's first laws against racial discrimination.

3. The Notting Hill carnival

Attended by more than a million people each year, the Notting Hill carnival is the largest street party in Europe. But how many Britons could tell you about its origins?

It started with human rights activist Claudia Jones, who was born in Trinidad in 1915 and spent much of her life in New York until she was deported from the US for being a member of the Communist party. Given asylum in England, she threw herself into the anti-racist struggle.

In response to the Notting Hill riots of 1958 - the worst race riots Britain had ever seen - and the racist murder of Kelso Cochrane, Jones launched an indoor Caribbean carnival in St Pancras in 1959 to bring people together. Further indoor events were held throughout the 1960s, finally taking to the streets of Notting Hill in 1965. Five decades later, it is second only in size to Brazil's Rio carnival.

4. John Blanke, the black trumpeter

The Tudor period was significant for black settlement in Britain.

Among the settlers was trumpeter John Blanke, a regular musician at the courts of both King Henry VII and Henry VIII, and the first black Briton for whom we have both their name and picture. He appears on horseback in the royal procession in a 60ft-long scroll commissioned by Henry VIII depicting the extravagant Westminster Tournament of 1511, which was held to celebrate the birth of a son.

He was paid 8d a day in wages, until he successfully petitioned the king to double this to 16d.

5. 'Beachy Head woman'

The remains of one of the earliest black Britons were uncovered in a village in East Sussex, where she is thought to have lived nearly 1,800 years ago in 245AD, the middle of the Roman period in Britain.

The mysterious, ancient skeleton, of the "Beachy Head woman", is believed to be the first known person in Britain from sub-Saharan Africa - which was beyond the domain of the Roman empire.

6. 'Ivory bangle lady'

One of the wealthiest inhabitants of fourth century Roman York was a middle-class woman of black African ancestry. The "ivory bangle lady" was discovered in 1901 inside a stone sarcophagus with grave goods including jewellery made of Yorkshire jet and African elephant ivory, a glass mirror and a blue glass jug.

Experts hailed her discovery as challenge to the assumption that Africans in Britain at the time were not wealthy and likely to have been slaves.

7. Britain's black miners

The contributions of the many non-white workers who toiled in the UK's coalmining industry have largely been forgotten.

Amid severe labour shortages in industry in the aftermath of the second world war, they came to Britain at the government's invitation and filled vacancies in vital industries, including in coalmines, where they worked as coalface workers, chargehands, deputies and union representatives.

It is estimated there were hundreds of African-Caribbean men working in the mines in Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire, Yorkshire, Bristol, Kent, Durham, south Wales and Scotland. The Gedling Colliery in Nottinghamshire was known as "The Pit of Nations" and it was thought that at least a quarter of its workforce between the 1950's and 80's were black.

8. The sacking of Benin

Benin City, originally called Edo, was once the capital of a pre-encounter African empire in what is now southern Nigeria. It was one of the oldest states in west Africa, dating back to the 11th century.

At the height of the scramble for Africa, the "Benin expedition" of 1897 led to British troops punitively sacking the ancient city after it defied the British empire by imposing customs duties. The city's walls - at the time the world's largest earthworks created in the pre-mechanised era and four times the length of the Great Wall of China - were razed. The city was burned to the ground and its treasures looted.

Much of Benin's artworks and artefacts were taken to Britain where many were auctioned as war booty or gifted to museums across Europe.Hundreds of the stolen artefacts still reside in museums, galleries, universities and private collections across the UK. The Benin bronzes, in particular, remain the subject of demands for repatriation.

9. The Haitian Revolution

The Haitian Revolution was one of the largest and most successful slave rebellions in history. Over 12 years of uprisings formerly enslaved Africans overcame colonial rule, ending slavery in France's most profitable colony and establishing the first independent black republic in the Americas.

In the 18th century, the white population made up 40,000 of Saint-Domingue's residents, while the slave population was close to half a million - outnumbering them 10 to one.

The enslaved began a violent rebellion against the white landowners in 1791, led by the Haitian-born former slave Toussaint L'Ouverture. In 1794, the French government officially freed all slaves in the colonies and made them full citizens.

When Napoleon came to power, he sent French troops to regain control of Saint-Domingue. L'Ouverture's successor, Jean-Jacques Dessalines, eventually defeated the French and forced them out, establishing the independent nation of Haiti in 1804.

10. The British Black Panthers

The story of the British Black Panthers has also largely been forgotten.

Inspired by the American Black Power movement, the BBP was founded by Obi Egbuna in Notting Hill, London, in 1968. Though not an official branch of the American organisation, the BBP adopted the symbols of military jackets, berets and raised fists.

Under Altheia Jones-LeCointe's leadership from 1970, it transformed into a highly effective organisation built on working-class solidarity and community activism. The Panthers focused on grassroots organising, fighting racial discrimination in jobs, housing, education and health.

Their most influential success was their defence of the Mangrove Nine. During a demonstration against police brutality , nine black leaders - including Jones-LeCointe and Darcus Howe - were arrested and charged with inciting a riot. After representing themselves and demanding an all-black jury, they were acquittedand the judge publicly acknowledged "evidence of racial hatred" in the London police.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Ten black history events that should be taught to every pupil

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Black History Month presents an opportunity to highlight historical episodes and figures not given due (or any) prominence in UK schools. Here are 10 examples of black history I was not taught in school. The contributions of the 15,204 men who served in the British West Indies Regiment have largely been forgotten in the UK's remembrance of the great war.

# data[].attributes.headline
The Lincoln Project presents our music video for "Commander in Chief" by Demi Lovato

# data[].attributes.subject
The Lincoln Project presents our music video for "Commander in Chief" by Demi Lovato

# data[].attributes.body
CO - 3.19

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The Lincoln Project presents our music video for  "Commander in Chief" by Demi Lovato