• Ep. 1: Bones Do Not Lie
    Dec 19 2019

    We go back 300,000 years to meet our earliest human ancestors, and talk to the archaeologists uncovering the untold stories of modern human origins. Bonnie looks at the changing face of one of the earliest Europeans, and at how he is also changing our understanding of race.

    Show more Show less
    40 mins
  • Ep. 2: Fearsome One-Eyed Queens
    Dec 19 2019

    Bonnie discovers how differently ancient Greeks conceived of race, and meets the Queens of Kush: warriors, traders and diplomats who ruled the fabulous Kushite kingdom in what is now Sudan. They kept the Roman Empire at bay - and laughed in the face of Augustus Caesar.

    Show more Show less
    50 mins
  • Ep. 3: Magical Blackness
    Dec 19 2019

    In the bone store at the Museum of London, Bonnie visits Londoners of African descent. Their skeletons tell a new story about Africa and Europe, in which Europe was the continent of starvation, disease and suffering, while Africans grew up healthy and strong. Bonnie discovers the magical power of Medieval blackness - used as a symbol of power in the struggle for world domination, between Christianity and Islam.

    Show more Show less
    44 mins
  • Ep. 4: The Real Thing
    Dec 19 2019

    For the first time in European art we see a portrait of a named black person. John Blanke - celebrated trumpeter and herald to the Tudor kings of England. Bonnie is given extremely rare access to a true treasure - the Westminster Tournament Roll. This fragile 60 foot-long painting is hardly ever unrolled, but Bonnie is allowed to see it - and comes face-to-face with this incredible Black Tudor.

    Show more Show less
    45 mins
  • Ep. 5: The Darkness of the Enlightenment
    Dec 19 2019

    This is the Age of Enlightenment - a revolution in thought which told people “dare to think for yourself”. But it’s also the era when the Transatlantic Slave Trade transformed the globe. Bonnie meets an African philosopher living in Germany who challenged both the gods of Enlightenment philosophy, and took on slavery itself.

    Show more Show less
    48 mins
  • Ep. 6: Revolt
    Dec 19 2019

    For as long as there was slavery, there was resistance to it. Bonnie meets a lawyer-historian exposing long hidden stories of women’s revolt on board slave ships crossing the Atlantic. She meets the warrior women who fought back, and discovers how the successful revolution in Haiti sent shock waves round the world - terrifying the slaving nations.

    Show more Show less
    48 mins
  • Ep. 7: Eclipse
    Dec 19 2019

    This era saw the birth of the pseudo-science of white superiority: eugenics. Bonnie meets a remarkable doctor, writer and statistician - James McCune Smith - the first African American to hold a medical degree - who fought tirelessly against the myths of eugenics and white superiority. She also discovers the untold story of one of the most famous black Victorians - Sara Baartman, who was displayed across Europe under the name The Hottentot Venus.

    Show more Show less
    43 mins
  • Ep. 8: The Arc of Reclamation
    Dec 19 2019

    Bonnie meets an inspirational figure who was crucial to the Civil Rights movement in the USA. Pauli Murray was an activist, lawyer and poet who broke the mould. She’s the most influential person in the civil rights movement you’ve probably never heard of. As the series draws to a close, Bonnie visits her beloved British Museum to ask what is the legacy of all these untold stories - and how we can reshape our history to tell a richer tale about our world.

    Show more Show less
    54 mins