Episode description

Bonnie Greer OBE, playwright and critic, joins Matthew Parris to make a case for seven women from Jamaica who were hung or shot in 1865 after the Morant Bay Rebellion.

Bonnie makes a case that this peasants' uprising was a pivotal event not only in Jamaican history, but in the history of the entire Caribbean region; Britain and the world. In Victorian England, the uproar following it included prominent names like Charles Dickens and Charles Darwin, who were on opposite sides of the debate.

Bonnie wants to rectify the fact that the seven women who were killed in the aftermath have been largely forgotten, whilst their leaders - Paul Bogle and George William Gordon - are National Heroes of Jamaica.

Joining Matthew and Bonnie is expert witness is Gad Heuman, Emeritus Professor at the University of Warwick and author of Killing Time: Morant Bay Rebellion Jamaica and The Caribbean: A Brief History.

Producer: Eliza Lomas for BBC Audio, Bristol.