Civil Rights Movement

1. Civil Rights Movement

2. The Establishment of NICRA • Influenced by America- The Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association (NICRA) was established at the start of 1967. Two of the main founding members were Ivan Cooper and John Hume. NICRA took much of their inspiration from the United States. • Martin Luther King’s campaign had employed non-violent methods of civil disobedience (Civil disobedience - Wikipedia, the free encyclopaedia) in an effort to achieve equal opportunities for blacks. By 1967 a series of marches and protests had led the US Congress to pass laws outlawing public discrimination and guaranteeing voting rights. These developments were widely reported in Europe.

3. NICRA’s Aims • Set up as a non-sectarian movement, NICRA did not seek to end [partition; rather it hoped to end what it saw as a number of serious abuses in the existing political system. In particular it sought to: • Achieve one-man one vote. This would allow a vote to all people over the age of 18. It would also remove the right of business owners to cast multiple votes.

4. 2. Ensure the fair allocation of council houses. At this time the possession of a vote in the elections depended upon being a rate-payer-basically a householder. This meant that the less Catholics who possessed property the less that could vote. 3. End gerrymandering, which was the practice of drawing electoral boundaries in a way that would serve to benefit one community. The most infamous example was here in Derry. The Unionists dominated the council despite there being nearly twice as many Catholics in the area. (Catholics 20,102, Protestants 10,274) Printed in 1812, this political cartoon illustrates the electoral districts drawn by the Massachusetts legislature to favour the incumbent Democratic-Republican party candidates of Governor Elbridge Gerry over the Federalists, from which the term gerrymander is derived. The cartoon depicts the bizarre shape of a district in Essex County, Massachusetts as a dragon.

5. 4. Prevent discrimination in the allocation of government jobs. The Cameron Commission found that there was widespread favouritism towards Protestants in the allocation of jobs. 5. Remove the operation of the Special Powers Act. This law allowed the arrest and detainment of people without the use of trial

6. 6. Disband the B Specials. This group was the sole remnant of the three-pronged Ulster Special Constabulary, which had been established in September 1920 to fight against the IRA during the War of Independence. 7. Establish a formal complaints procedure against local authorities to report breaches in the above areas.

7. Support For NICRA • Support for NICRA came from across the community. In particular it came from a new generation of Catholics, the first to have benefited from the introduction of free education in the late 1940s. These Catholics had seen the growing self-confidence of Catholics elsewhere, not least in the US where John F. Kennedy had been elected President in 1960. They were also unhappy with the policy of Eddie McAteer, the leader of the Nationalist party. It seemed that he only wanted to end partition. However, support of NICRA came from many areas, including: Liberal Protestants who sympathised with some of NICRA’s demands, communists, academics and trade unionists. Bitesize

8. Suspicion Of NICRA • Many of the Unionist population felt that the movement was nothing more than a front for the IRA, while others believed that they were only interested in Catholic rights. Task • Answer questions 1, 4, 6, 7 and the extension activity on page 113 of your text books.

9. BBC Bitesize • The BBC bitesize is a great tool for revising your work. • Click on the hyperlink below to start revising • BBC - GCSE Bitesize - Northern Ireland 1965-85