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Max Pearson presents a collection of this week\u2019s Witness History episodes from the BBC World Service telling stories about inspirational black women.

In 1973, the Battle of Versailles pit up-and-coming American designers using black models against the more traditional French. We hear from Bethann Hardison, one of those black models, about how the capital of couture, Paris, became the stage for this defining moment in the history of fashion.

Professor Adrienne Jones, a fashion expert at the Pratt Insitute in New York, explains the cultural significance of the event, and what changed in the world of fashion afterwards.

Plus, the story of the UK\u2019s first luxury Afro-Caribbean hair salon, Splinters, which opened as recently as the 1980s. Charlotte Mensah, known as the \u2018Queen of the \u2018fro\u2019, recalls what it was like to work there. Part of her story includes an account racial bullying.

Also, archive interviews tell the story of how Rosa Parks defied racist segregation laws in the United States. It contains outdated and offensive language.

We hear how a Nigerian lawyer took on the country\u2019s Sharia courts to overturn a death sentence.

And the tragic story of Lucha Reyes, one of Peru\u2019s most beloved singers.

Contributors: \nBethann Hardison- a model who competed in the Battle of Versailles. \nProf Adrienne Jones- from the Pratt Institute in New York. \nHauwa Ibrahim- one of the first female lawyers from northern Nigeria. \nPolo Bances- saxophonist who played alongside Lucha Reyes.

(Photo: Bethann Hardison and Armina Warsuma arriving in France. Credit: Photo by Michel Maurou/Reginald Gray/WWD/Penske Media via Getty Images)