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Tom Holland and guests discuss the stories that are Making History.

Today, Tom is joined by the historian of alternative spiritualities, gender and sexuality Dr Lucy Robinson of the University of Sussex.听 and from the School of History, Classics and Archaeology at the University of Newcastle, the historian of Modern America Dr Bruce Baker.

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WW1 and the Blues

The history of the music of the First World War most usually looks at the songs of the concert party, music hall or military. However, new research is showing that the Western Front, or at least the supply lines to it, were hugely important in the development of a type of music that came to dominate popular culture throughout the twentieth century: the blues.

As Helen Castor discovered when she met with Dr Mike Hammond from the University of Southampton, the American army was segregated when the USA entered the First World War in 1917. Most black troops worked in construction or supply and were based away from the front lines. However, their posting to France allowed them to mix with other African-Americans, something which was incredibly difficult back at home because of the racist Jim Crow laws. The cultural impact was huge: Black Americans from different communities sharing their ideas, experiences and music. Blues, already becoming commercially popular in the USA, was given a further boost.

Dr Mike Hammond听

Jim Crow Museum at Ferris State University

American Involvement in World War 1

Africana Age at New York Public Library

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Claudia Jones

Each week we ask a writer, performer or historian to nominate someone who has been passed over by history despite being influential during their lifetime. This week comic Ava Vidal argues the case for the civil rights campaigner and community activist who helped start the Notting Hill Carnival, Claudia Jones.

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100 Great Black Britons听

20th Century London听

Institute of Race Relations

Ava Vidal

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Woad

We tend to think that our Celtic ancestors (in particular the Picts) used woad as a natural ingredient for body art of some kind.. Julius Caesar is most likely to be the source of this historical rumour in his autobiographical The Gallic War - heavily supported by the public school song from the 1920鈥檚: The National Anthem of the Ancient Britons (set to the tune Men of Harlech). Truth be told, we know very little about woad鈥檚 uses until the late medieval period when evidence for its use as a textile dye surfaces.. The likelihood is that this very old plant was used in textile production for centuries and those using it would be stained blue. This might have led to people using it for body art but all the archaeological evidence shows that copper and not woad is present in ancient tattooing.

To understand how dyes are produced from woad and whether it could be used to create body art, Making History鈥檚 Iszi Lawrence went to meet the experimental archaeologist Romilly Swann who works for an educational organisation called Earth Trust at her house by the River Thames near Reading.

Earth Trust听

University of Reading Department of Archaeology

Woad in Britain

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Tattoos

Tom Holland and Lucy Robinson venture on to the streets of Brighton to a tattoo studio called Into You to meet the natural, non-electric body artist Adam Sage. They discuss why tattooing has become more acceptable and how historians can interrogate body art as a resource.

Bella Volen听

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Daily Mail听

Making History is produced by Nick Patrick and is a Pier Production for 91热爆 Radio 4

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