We Shall Overcome: Civil Rights Era Connections

Recorded May 5th, 2026.

Warning: this lecture contains language which may cause offence. The inclusion of these terms is for critical analysis of systemic prejudice, not to cause harm.

Part of We Shall Overcome: Civil Rights Struggles in Northern Ireland and the United States, a one day conference organised by the School of Histories and Humanities.

During the 1960s, the civil rights movement in Northern Ireland borrowed tactics, the anthem 'We Shall Overcome,' and even its very name for the African American movement for equality. This symposium examines how this connection was formed and what it meant. It will consider both the origins of such connections and their legacy for the present.

Sponsored by the Trinity Long Room Hub, UCD Clinton Institute for American Studies, Queen’s University Belfast, and the University of Galway

14:30-16:00 Civil Rights Era Connections Chair: Peter McLoughlin, QUB Sarah Campbell (Newcastle University), ‘'From Derry to Detroit: Bernadette Devlin, Black Freedom Struggles, and the Gendered Politics of Civil Rights' Melissa Baird (Royal Irish Academy), “Berkeley Berry Pickers” versus “Green Orangemen”: Divisions within Irish America to the Northern Ireland civil rights movement’ Daniel Geary (TCD), ‘Ulster’s White Negroes: The Politics of a Reverberating Analogy”

Learn more at www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub