BBC - Racism A History (2007) Part 3 A Savage Legacy

Racism A History is a hard-hitting and insightful British documentary series originally broadcast on the BBC in March 2007 to mark the bicentenary of the Slave Trade Act 1807 which abolished the slave trade in the British Empire. The three-part documentary series closely examines the development of Racism over the last 500 years, revealing some uncomfortable truths about how racist attitudes came into being and were spread into popular culture. Though the institution of slavery dates back to ancient civilizations, the modern concept of racism began with the African Slave Trade in the sixteenth century. The self interested desire to economically exploit Africans gave birth to the European concept that different races of human beings existed, distinguished by the colour of their skin. This documentary series chronicles the shifts in the idea of 'race' and the history of racism in Europe, The Americas, Australasia and Asia. These films show how ideas of racial difference have evolved in response to historical events, and identify the profound impact that the idea of 'race', and the fact of racism, has had on science, culture, society and global history. By exploring the history of 'race' - from the early emergence of racial consciousness to the impact of the very latest discoveries in genetics - this series examines the nature of the 'racial landscape' which, for five centuries, has occupied such an important place in the collective imagination of the West.

Part 3 A Savage Legacy

The third and final episode examines the impact of racism in the 20th Century. By 1900, European colonial expansion had reached deep into the heart of Africa. Under the rule of King Leopold II, The Belgian Congo was turned into a vast rubber plantation. Men, women and children who failed to gather their latex quotas would have their limbs dismembered. The country became the scene of one of the century's greatest racial genocides, as an estimated 10 million Africans perished under colonial rule. The final episode also explores the Jim Crow Era in America, the Apartheid regime which developed in South Africa and the institutional racism which still affects the United Kingdom. Contains scenes which some viewers may find disturbing.

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