‘Civil rights, unrest, death’ (1960s)

Author(s):  
Gareth Mulvenna

Chapter Two introduces the interviewees, all of whom were born in the early to mid-1950s. In this regard the 1960s, a dramatic period of time both globally and in Northern Ireland, are pivotal in providing a sense of what life was like for those working-class Protestant boys and teenagers who would a short time later engage in violent activities with Tartan gangs and loyalist paramilitaries. The chapter situates the autobiographical recollections of this period in domestic life, the Orange Order, education, the emergence of the UVF, the mythologising of Gusty Spence and the civil rights campaign. Ultimately, it seeks to demonstrate that the context of growing up as a working-class Protestant in Belfast amidst such uncertainty and growing violence shaped young men’s perceptions of the Catholic, nationalist and republican community as well as their own way of life as members of the wider British working class.

2016 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
pp. 49-58
Author(s):  
Sylwia Czachór

Generational differences in artistic representations of the experience of totalitarian past in the new Czech theatre. The article presents an analysis of a number of Czech performances from the years 2007–2013 on the topic of the communist era and reflecting on the changes that have occurred over the past 25 years. Selected directors belong to three generations of artists: the ones already creating in the 1960s, the ones debuting just before or just after the Velvet Revolution and the ones beginning their career in 2000. The comparison of performances produced within a short time clearly shows the differences, both aesthetic and ideological, in the method of recognizing similar issues by the authors growing up in a completely different socio-political conditions. Works of the oldest generation, using conventional theatrical means, reveal the strongest judgmental tendencies, the need to show the ambiguous choices in black and white colors. The average generation contend with the legend of past years, asking difficult questions about the impact of the past on the shape of collective identity. The youngest generation, however, intentionally emphasize that their knowledge about communism is mediated, which encourages them to analyze the history and memory of their families in search of their own roots.Generační rozdíly v uměleckém zobrazování zkušenosti totalitární minulosti v nejnovějším českém divadle. Příspěvek obsahuje analýzu několika českých představení z let 2007–2013, jejichž tématem se stalo období komunismu a reflexe nad proměnami posledních 25 let. Vybraní režiséři patří ke třem generacím umělců:  jedni inscenovali dlouho před rokem 1989, druzí debutovali krátce po sametové revoluci, zatímco třetí zahájili kariéru v roce 2000. Soubor představení vzniklých v malém časovém rozpětí výrazně ukazuje jak estetické, tak světonázorové rozdíly ve způsobu uchopení podobné tematiky autory, kteří vyrůstali ve zcela odlišných společensko-politických podmínkách. Díla nejstarší generace pomocí konvenčních divadelních prostředků projevují nejsilnější tendence posuzovat a odsuzovat, nutnost ukázat nejednoznačné volby v černo-bílých barvách. Střední generace se poměřuje s legendami mi­nulých dob, pokládá obtížné otázky po vlivu minulosti na podobu kolektivní identity. Nejmladší tvůrci pak vědomě zdůrazňují, že jejich znalost komunismu je zprostředkovaná, což je vede k analyzování historie a rodinné paměti při hledání vlastních kořenů.  


Author(s):  
Robert Bussel

This chapter examines the convergence of events that thrust Harold Gibbons into the maelstrom of national politics and led to his estrangement from the Teamsters's hierarchy. It first considers how Gibbons's rifts with Teamsters played out among Local 688's membership in St. Louis, which helped oust Gibbons in the summer of 1973, terminated his political partnership with Ernest Calloway, and signaled the demise of their quest for total person unionism and working-class citizenship. It then discusses Calloway's gradual withdrawal from direct involvement in civil rights activism and union affairs by the end of the 1960s, assuming instead the role of respected community elder. It also describes Gibbons's opposition to the Vietnam War and his difficulty in finding outlets for political expression during the last years of his career, even as he continued with his advocacy of interracial politics and comprehensive strategies for urban revitalization. Finally, it reflects on Calloway's death on December 31, 1989.


2020 ◽  
pp. 95-112
Author(s):  
Harris Beider ◽  
Kusminder Chahal

This chapter examines the possibilities of building cross-racial coalitions between the white working class and communities of color as the United States transitions from majority white to a minority white country. Fifty years after the campaign for civil rights and the passage of landmark legislation during the 1960s, there is little evidence of formal and sustainable cross-racial coalition building at the grassroots or grasstops level between the white working class and communities of color. White working-class communities wanted to engage with communities of color but did not have the means of engaging across racial boundaries beyond a superficial everyday level. Discussions between different communities were “soft-wired” and based on fleeting exchanges in informal spaces rather than becoming “hard-wired” in a strategic plan that can create a framework for coalition building. Stakeholders were largely ambivalent and occasionally hostile toward engaging with white working-class communities to build effective cross-racial alliances. Similar to white working-class communities in relation to communities of color, stakeholders found it challenging to engage with these groups.


Author(s):  
John Mulqueen

At the beginning of the 1960s, the Soviet Union decided to support national liberation movements to undermine the US and its allies worldwide. Concurrently, the IRA leadership began to emphasise socialism and co-operate with communists in various agitations – the most significant would be the Northern Ireland civil rights movement. This chapter discusses perceptions of the republican movement’s ‘new departure’. William Craig, the Northern Ireland minister of home affairs, contended that the communist-influenced IRA aimed to manipulate the civil rights issue as a prelude to another armed campaign. In 1969 Northern Ireland’s prime minister, Major James Chichester-Clark, warned that some civil rights protesters aimed to create an ‘Irish Cuba’. The civil rights campaign inadvertently worsened sectarian tensions in Northern Ireland, leading to the outbreak of the Troubles.


Author(s):  
Ray Hearne ◽  
Ryan Bramley

This chapter showcases some literary pieces centred around Rotherham, and are based on the authors' own experiences growing up in the area as well as observations on the socio-economic conditions of Rotherham. Some of the poetry articulates the smoke-choked experience of South Yorkshire of the 1960s and 1970s, and one sets the tone for life to be lived on the periphery: in a contested space between working-class pride, and middle-class aspiration; between belonging and rootlessness. The chapter also contains a prose piece detailing ‘Rotherham's hellish underworld’ which reveals the price paid by dint of economic survival. A song is also included alongside the poetry and prose pieces.


Author(s):  
Marc Mulholland

The culture of paramilitarism in Ireland was undiminished by the world wars. The Ulster Volunteer Force became a founding myth for Northern Ireland with the annual Orange parades being a quasi-formal institution of the state. After the 1916 Rebellion, the Irish Volunteers evolved into the Irish Republican Army (IRA). ‘Paramilitarism’ discusses the resurgence of both loyalism and republicanism in the 1960s and the rationale behind the violence on both sides. It describes how paramilitarism became consolidated as a ‘way of life’; the 1976 Peace People marches; the IRA ‘Long War’ strategy; the hunger strikes; the impact of the Anglo-Irish Agreement; the rise of Sinn Féin; and the peace process from the paramilitary perspective.


Author(s):  
Rebecca Tuuri

This chapter explores the first three decades of the National Council of Negro Women (NCNW). In 1935, educator, clubwoman, and politician Mary McLeod Bethune founded the NCNW as an organization of black women's organizations to create a united lobbying voice. By utilizing a strategy of broker politics, the NCNW opened up professional opportunities for black women and lobbied for civil rights legislation. NCNW women also enforced strict standards of respectability as they sought such power. While the NCNW claimed to speak on behalf of all black women, a majority of its membership came from black sororities. This college-based membership, as well as the council's focus on black professionalization, meant that many working class women viewed the organization as elitist and uninterested in their concerns. However, beginning in the mid 1950s and continuing through the 1960s, the NCNW became more significantly involved in civil rights and the needs of the poor.


ILR Review ◽  
1993 ◽  
Vol 46 (3) ◽  
pp. 480-498 ◽  
Author(s):  
Terry Cradden

This article examines the actions of trade union leaders in response to religious discrimination in employment in Northern Ireland, and their influence on British Government policy-making on this question. The main finding is that despite the risk of alienating many members, the trade union movement persisted in seeking radical remedies for discrimination during the 1980s, and was influential in the shaping of anti-discrimination legislation enacted in 1989. The author finds points of similarity between this history and the AFL-CIO leadership's civil rights stand in the 1960s, and sees these examples as evidence that egalitarian values have played, and continue to play, an important role in shaping union purpose and action.


2005 ◽  
Vol 34 (135) ◽  
pp. 321-332
Author(s):  
Brendan Lynn

At the end of the 1960s the outbreak of widespread civil unrest in Northern Ireland forced the authorities in London and Dublin into confronting an issue which had seemingly been settled some time before. The emergence of the Civil Rights movement among the minority community and the reaction of unionist opinion to it had set in motion a series of events that were to raise once again the whole topic of partition. Yet for a short time in the period immediately following the Second World War it looked as if this subject was, to the delight of some and the dismay of others, about to re-emerge. One of the elements behind this development was the establishment by northern nationalists in 1945 of an organisation called the Irish Anti-Partition League (I.A.P.L.). The formation of the I.A.P.L. was significant on a number of grounds.


2021 ◽  
Vol 28 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gloria Ladson-Billings

I have framed this essay based on one of my all-time favorite films, The Wizard of Oz. I actually saw the film in the theater at a Saturday matinee and I was fascinated by Judy Garland’s journey from a small Kansas community to the magical land of Oz. When she ended up in Oz Dorothy was directed to “Follow the Yellow Brick Road” as a way to get to the Emerald City. For a working class, Black girl like me growing up in the pre-Civil Rights era, there was no yellow brick road to follow to the Emerald City. I was going to have to actually make the road. Fortunately, I would encounter “road pavers” along the way that made my journey possible. This essay describes a version of that journey. 


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