Witness History: Archive 2012

The anti-Apartheid activist Steve Biko, leader of the Black Consciousness Movement in South Africa, died in a police cell in 1977. The South African police claimed he'd gone on hunger strike and had starved himself to death, but he had only been in prison a matter of days. Helen ...  Show more

John Howard Griffin, a white journalist, dyed his skin black to experience segregation in America's Deep South. John Howard Griffin wrote a book about his seven week experience.*** Listeners should be aware that some of the language in this programme reflects the historical conte ...  Show more

In May 1992 the people of South Central Los Angeles took to the streets in fury at police brutality.They were angry that Los Angeles police department officers accused of beating a motorist called Rodney King, had been acquitted.Hear Rodney King's take on the beating, and the unr ...  Show more

Debra Hocking was taken from her indigenous Australian family as a baby and was placed with a foster family. It was part of a government policy to try to assimilate Aboriginal children into white families. Photo: PM Kevin Rudd prepares to apologise to the Stolen Generation in Par ...  Show more