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Black history

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

Francis Drake: slave trader. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Francis Drake portrait

Francis Drake’s forgotten role in the English slave trade

American spotlight: how today’s protests echo historical outrage. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Britain and the slave trade. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

American civil rights leader Martin Luther King

The civil rights movement: everything you wanted to know. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

From Nelson to Churchill: challenging British heroes with Afua Hirsch. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

How William Shakespeare shaped America. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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). This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Hidden Figures: the incredible real history behind the film. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Black rights activist Malcolm X

Malcolm X: Activism, assassination and how he predicted his own death

Confronting evils.

Confronting evils. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The Windrush generation. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Mixed-race babies born after the Second World War

Rosa Parks rides an integrated bus

From Rosa Parks to Martin Luther King: the boycott that inspired the dream

Members of the Ku Klux Klan march down Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington DC in 1925. The Klan of this era was a terrorist group in the precise meaning of that term, says Linda Gordon. (Photo by Topical Press Agency/Getty Images)

When the Ku Klux Klan was a mass movement

A British officer stands alongside two of his Japanese counterparts in 1914 in Tsingtao (now Qingdao). Japanese troops played a key role in the capture of that strategic German concession in north-east China. (Photo by Getty Images)

First World War: beyond the western front

Illustration by Davide Bonazzi

The big questionShould museums return their treasures?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The Haiti slave revolt. (Image by Getty)

Slave revolt. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.