Black and British: A Forgotten History

Black and British: A Forgotten History
GenreDocumentary
Created byDavid Olusoga
Directed byNaomi Austin
Presented byDavid Olusoga
ComposerSegun Akinola
Country of originUnited Kingdom
No. of seasons1
No. of episodes4
Original release
Release9 November 2016 (2016-11-09)
Infobox instructions (only shown in preview)

Black and British: A Forgotten History is a four-part BBC Television documentary series, written and presented by David Olusoga and first broadcast in November 2016,[1][2] and a book of the same title written by Olusoga to accompany the series.[3][4][5]

It documents the history of Black people in Britain and its colonies, starting with those who arrived as part of the Roman occupation, and relates that history to modern Black British identity.[1]

As part of each programme, commemorative plaques – twenty in all – honouring the people discussed, were erected.[6]

The series' music was composed by Segun Akinola, who in 2019 received a nomination at the Screen Nation Awards in the "Rising Star" category for his work on this and two other programmes.[7]

The book was awarded the 2017 Hessell-Tiltman Prize.[8] A new edition was published in 2021, with an additional chapter on the 2018 Windrush scandal and the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests.[9]

  1. ^ a b Ramaswamy, Chitra (10 November 2016). "Black and British: A Forgotten History review – this is what it means to share a heritage". The Guardian. Retrieved 4 October 2020.
  2. ^ Rees, Jasper (9 November 2016). "Black and British: A Forgotten History revealed a fascinating side of our past – review". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 2 May 2021. This is a likeable series. So why has it taken so long to be made?
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference Grant was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Dabydeen, David (20 August 2017). "David Olusoga's look at a forgotten history shows there's always been black in the Union Jack". New Statesman. Retrieved 4 October 2020.
  5. ^ Olusoga, David (2016). Black and British: a forgotten history. London: Macmillan. ISBN 978-1-4472-9973-8.
  6. ^ Olusoga, David (24 October 2016). "Black and British – a forgotten history". National Heritage Memorial Fund. Retrieved 2 May 2021.
  7. ^ "Screen Nation Hall Of Fame". Screen Nation. Retrieved 4 October 2020.
  8. ^ Sharp, Robert (10 July 2017). "David Olusoga wins PEN Hessell-Tiltman Prize 2017 for Black and British". English PEN. Archived from the original on 30 March 2020.
  9. ^ Mohdin, Aamna (7 June 2021). "David Olusoga on race and reality: 'My job is to be a historian. It's not to make people feel good'". The Guardian.