logo
episode-header-image
Oct 2022
27m 57s

The Long History of African and Caribbea...

History Hit
About this episode

There remains a tendency to reduce the history of African and Caribbean people in Britain to a simple story: it is one that begins in 1948 with the arrival of a single ship, the Empire Windrush. Yet, from the very beginning, from the moment humans first stood on this rainy isle, there have been African and Caribbean men and women set at Britain's heart.


Professor Hakim Adi is the first historian of African heritage to become a professor of history in Britain— he has been researching and writing about the history of African and Caribbean people in Britain for decades. Hakim joins Dan to chart a course through British history with an unobscured view of the actions of African and Caribbean people, sharing the stories of the Africans in Britain during the Roman period, Black Tudors, Stuarts and Victorians, and shedding light on the Windrush Myth.


This episode was produced by Hannah Ward and edited by Dougal Patmore.


If you'd like to learn more, we have hundreds of history documentaries, ad-free podcasts and audiobooks at History Hit - subscribe to History Hit today!


To download the History Hit app please go to the Android or Apple store.


Complete the survey and you'll be entered into a prize draw to win 5 Historical Non-Fiction Books- including a signed copy of Dan Snow's 'On This Day in History'.

Up next
Jul 8
Why Do Empires Fall?
For centuries, the Roman Empire commanded unparalleled control over the world around it. It expanded its borders through trade and conquest, sucking resources from the periphery into its thriving centre - Rome. And then, suddenly, everything changed. The Empire entered a state of ... Show More
42m 14s
Jul 6
Pirates: Piracy in the South China Seas
Zheng Yi Sao was a pirate leader so formidable that she made Blackbeard and Captain Morgan look like amateurs. From humble beginnings as a sex worker in Canton, she rose to command a vast pirate fleet that wrought havoc in the South China Sea. She took on the Qing Dynasty, the Po ... Show More
38m 48s
Jul 3
The Rise & Fall of Sparta
Today, we trace the rise and fall of ancient Greece’s most formidable warrior society - Sparta. This society's militaristic culture and battlefield feats are the stuff of legend - but how much of its story is based on cold, hard fact?Joining us is Dr Andrew Bayliss, a professor o ... Show More
46m 16s
Recommended Episodes
Oct 2023
Black Tudors
The most famous Black African in Tudor England is John Blanke, a musician in the courts of Henry VII and Henry VIII. The discovery of Blanke, originally by Professor Sydney Anglo, was made famous by Dr. Miranda Kaufmann’s 2017 book Black Tudors, The Untold Story.  A year earlier ... Show More
46m 5s
Oct 2022
Who were the Africans in Medieval Britain?
Earlier this month, it was reported that DNA analysis of the skeleton of a 10-year-old girl buried in Kent in the 7th century showed she was of West African descent. Thirty-three per cent of her DNA suggests that the girl’s grandfather or great-grandfather was probably from the E ... Show More
30m 47s
Feb 2024
African & Caribbean People in Britain - A History w/ Hakim Adi
In this fantastic episode of Guerrilla History, we bring back our esteemed friend and guest, Prof. Hakim Adi, to discuss his eminently important new book African and Caribbean People in Britain: A History, which has just been shortlisted for the prestigious Wolfson History Prize! ... Show More
1h 27m
Dec 2022
The First Britons
67 million people currently inhabit the United Kingdom - but what do we know about the original, first Britons? It's no secret when looking back into pre-history that it was a time of mass migration for animals and people alike, but who were our early inhabitants, and what can we ... Show More
49m 20s
Oct 2023
Kings of Medieval Ethiopia
Overseeing a rich and diverse kingdom, Ethiopia’s medieval monarchs consolidated their power by claiming descent from the Biblical King Solomon. But why did they pursue long-distance diplomatic contacts with Latin Europe?  In this episode of Gone Medieval, Dr. Eleanor Janega meet ... Show More
38m 22s
Jun 2022
Welcome to History is US
Written and narrated by award-winning author and Professor of African American Studies at Princeton University, Dr. Eddie S. Glaude, “History is US” is a 6-part audio documentary produced and developed by C13Originals that asks questions about who we are as a nation, and what rac ... Show More
2m 26s
Aug 2022
Welcome to American History Hit
Join Don Wildman twice a week for your hit of American history, as he explores the past to help us understand the United States of today. We’ll hear how codebreakers uncovered secret Japanese plans for the Battle of Midway, visit Chief Powhatan as he prepares for war with the Bri ... Show More
3m 12s
May 2020
M’hamed Oualdi, "A Slave between Empires: A Transimperial History of North Africa" (Columbia UP, 2020)
In light of the profound physical and mental traumas of colonization endured by North Africans, historians of recent decades have primarily concentrated their studies of North Africa on colonial violence, domination, and shock. The choice is an understandable one. But in his new ... Show More
41m 41s