Black History Month on BBC 1Xtra

Throughout the month of October BBC 1Xtra will be celebrating the achievements, events, and black music icons that have contributed to this history over the last 5 decades. Each week we will be looking at a different decade focussing on the music, the politics and the drama that define that period in time.

Hear Part 1 of 1Xtra's Black History Month

BBC 1Xtra - Black History

Download Black History Month packages from BBC UK Black podcast

What happened in the 1960s:

• 200,000 people march on Washington for civil rights and hear Dr. Martin Luther King deliver his I Have A Dream speech. Two months President John F Kennedy is assassinated.
  
  
• In the UK, history as made as London hosts the first ever Notting Hill Carnival originally held in several halls as a showcase for Caribbean talent.
  
  
• Bob Marley and the Wailers form and begin recording. Their first track 'Simmer Down' becomes a huge hit in Jamaica.
  
  
• Little Stevie Wonder records his first number one at the age of 12. He goes on to win 20 Grammies in his career.
  
  
• Dr Martin Luther King is shot dead on April 4 1968,. His death sparks riots in more than a hundred US cities. James Earl Ray was convicted of his murder.
  
  
• In the UK and the new race relations act comes in to force making it illegal to refuse housing, employment and public service to people because of their ethnic background.

Learn about the 1970s

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