Show Notes
Just when you thought that we knew everything that there is to know about the 1916 Easter Rising, yet more perspectives continue to seep from the archives and from locations more obscure. A 49-page document, now in the archives of the Linen Hall Library, offers a sensational eye-witness account of the Rising written in long-hand and on Gresham Hotel headed notepaper. It describes the thrilling experiences of 38 year old James Mitchell, a teacher from The Mount in east Belfast. This is his sto...
More from Historical Belfast
During the course of this project, The Linen Hall welcomed a range of community organisations to take part in engagement sessions which explored the theme of civil rights ‘then’ and ‘now’. Responses to questions about the idea of civil rights ‘now’ were enlightening and raised many issues; some new and some unresolved. To help me compare and contrast the campaign for civil rights in the 1960s with the demands for rights in 2025 I have enlisted the help of 3 contributors: Fergus Woods wh...
Terence O’Neill delivered his famous ‘Ulster at the crossroads’ speech in December of 1968 though it appeared from the events at Burntollet in January 1969 that the people had chosen to continue along the same perilous path as before. The subsequent change in political landscape set the tone for action and reaction to social change for a generation in Northern Ireland. To help us understand the reforms and resignations which caused so many ructions within political unionism at thi...
By 1968 the campaign for civil rights in Northern Ireland had moved onto the streets. It was a deliberate decision, inspired in part by global events, particularly the civil rights movement in America. In order to help us understand better the street politics element of the civil rights movement I have enlisted the help and expertise of Dr Melissa Baird. Melissa is an historian of modern Irish and American history, she currently Assistant Editor of the Documents on Irish Foreign P...
In November 1966, a public meeting was called to highlight the issue of civil rights in Northern Ireland. This was held in the War Memorial Building in Belfast and the audience was drawn from all sectors of libertarianism in NI. By January 1967, at Belfast’s International Hotel, the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association (NICRA) elected a 13-person steering committee and 5 broad objectives were issued to the press. To help us better understand the demands of the civil rights movement I hav...
Despite its structural difficulties, the new state of Northern Ireland continued in relative peace and stability from 1923 until the 1960s. The 1960s, though, were a decade of change both culturally and politically. The formation of NICRA marked the formal beginning of the civil rights campaign. It was the commencement of a new era for Northern Ireland, albeit a turbulent one. To help us understand this decade of change in the 1960s I have enlisted the help and expertise of Dr David McC...