From the 1958 Notting Hill riots and the murder of Kelso Cochrane through to the murder of Rolan Adams in Greenwich in 1991, black communities have fought in the streets and in the courts for the basic human right to live without fear of racial attacks. The film focuses on several cases of self-defence such as the Mangrove 9, the Bradford 12 and the Newham 7 as well as racist murders and community response to incidents such the New Cross Massacre, in 1981, in which thirteen black children were killed and which was followed by The Black Day of Action. The film looks at the question of racist attacks in schools and on how policing of black communities led to revolts and uprisings in all the major towns of Britain during the seventies and eighties.

'Britain's Black Legacy' interweaves a wealth of archive material with personal testimonies from some of those who were centrally involved in those struggles. The film retraces this history of struggle and shows how this legacy of resistance opened up fundamental questions around policing and the entire judicial system in Britain. Finally, the film expresses the need to challenge the current political system through using the lessons learnt from the long history of Black struggles in Britain.