China's LGBT 'cooperative marriages'
LGBT people in China sometimes arrange fake marriages to hide their sexuality. Homosexuality is not illegal in China but there is discrimination against LGBT people. In 2005 Lin Hai set up a website to allow lesbians and gay men to get in touch with each other. He came up with the idea to stop his family from putting pressure on him to get married. He spoke to Yashan Zhao in 2019 for Witness History. This programme is a rebroadcast.(Photo: Lin Hai and his partner on holiday in Thailand in 2014. Credit: Lin Hai)Show less
24 Juni 20218min
The secret diaries of 'Gentleman Jack'
The discovery of the diaries of 19th-century Englishwoman Anne Lister, who wrote in secret code about her love affairs with women and has been called the first modern lesbian. A landowner and a businesswoman, she defied the conventions of the time and was nicknamed 'Gentleman Jack' in the Yorkshire town of Halifax where she lived, because of the way she dressed and acted. Louise Hidalgo spoke to Helena Whitbread, who discovered Anne Lister's diaries in 1983 and spent five years decoding them. This programme is a rebroadcast.Picture: portrait of Anne Lister, of Shibden Hall, Halifax (credit: Alamy)
23 Juni 20218min
Woubis, yossis and travestis: LGBT activism in Côte d’Ivoire
Abidjan in Côte d’Ivoire has a buzzing LGBT scene and the country is regarded as one of the more tolerant nations in West Africa. In this Witness History, Josephine Casserly speaks to Barbara, a trans, LGBT activist. In 1992, Barbara was among a group of protesters who stormed the office of a national newspaper, to protest against their depiction of LGBT people. (Image: Barbara. Credit: From Barbara's personal collection)
22 Juni 20219min
The Stonewall Inn
In June 1969, the gay community in New York responded to police brutality and harassment by rioting outside the Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village. For several days there were battles with the police. The protest sparked the creation of the modern LGBTQ+ rights movement and the first Gay Pride events. Simon Watts spoke to Stonewall veteran, John O'Brien.This programme is a rebroadcast.PHOTO: Exterior of the Stonewall Inn, pictured in June 2015 (Credit: Zach D Roberts/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
21 Juni 20219min
China's 'Economic Miracle'
Since the 1980s China has witnessed massive economic growth. It’s become known as the 'world’s factory'. The driving force behind much of it has been a vast migrant workforce of millions of people, many from the countryside. But at what cost to village life and rural communities? Rebecca Kesby has been speaking to writer Liang Hong about her experience of leaving the Chinese countryside, and why she is determined to document the lives of those living through seismic change.(PHOTO:
18 Juni 202111min
The Trabant
The iconic East German car dominated the roads of communist Central Europe for decades. The Trabant was made out of resin and cotton waste, had a two-stroke engine and its design remained virtually unchanged for thirty years. Johannes Dell has been hearing from legendary German designer Karl Clauss Dietel who worked for years to make improvements to the Trabant - but his innovations were never implemented.(Photo: a Trabant 601. Credit: BBC)
17 Juni 20218min
The police rape interview that shocked Britain
When the BBC broadcast a documentary called 'A Complaint of Rape' in 1982 the public was shocked. It was part of a fly-on-the-wall series about the police in which officers were filmed aggressively questioning a woman about her allegation of rape. It made news around the world and inspired the British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher to question the procedure as well as the attitude of those involved. The woman was asked personal questions about her sex life, menstruation and about her mental health. The officers told her directly that they didn't believe her claim. It led individual police forces to reassess the way they investigated allegations of rape. Claire Bowes has been speaking to film-maker Roger Graef about the footage. Photo: an image from the film 'A Complaint of Rape' by Roger Graef and the BBC (1982).
16 Juni 20218min
The Confederate flag and America’s battle over race
In June 2015 an American anti-racist activist climbed a flagpole on the South Carolina state house grounds to take down the Confederate flag. The protest followed the killing of 9 black people at a historic Charleston church by a white supremacist who was pictured holding the flag. The Confederate flag was the battle flag of the troops who fought to retain slavery during America’s civil war. For African Americans the flag is a symbol of slavery, segregation and black subordination. Bree Newsome Bass talks to Farhana Haider about her act of protest.Bree Newsome taking down the Confederate flag at the State House in Columbia, SC, on Saturday 27th June 2015 . She was arrested for her action. (Photo by Adam Anderson / Reuters)
14 Juni 202114min
