Causes of Bloody Sunday

Ireland's Bloody Sunday:
Failures of Debate and Diplomacy

Tensions Rising

Though Ireland was independent during the 1960’s, it was still governed by Britain. Most of Britain and Ireland were Protestant communities except for Belfast and Londonderry, which were Catholic. 

Two out of three Londonderry residents were Catholic. However, voting records were manipulated that Londonderry was controlled by Protestants. In Belfast, the main employer was the local shipyard, which had a 95% Protestant workforce.

Northern Ireland (Catholics vs. Protestants), 1991, CAIN

"There was systematic discrimination in housing and jobs."
~ James Smyth

United States Influence

The African American Civil Rights movement between 1950 to 1964 greatly influenced Irish Catholic demonstrators.

April 28th, 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his famous “I Have a Dream” speech. Over 200,000 people attended despite risks to their safety. King wanted to fix racial inequality peacefully.

May 28th, 1963, Anne Moody and two other African-American teenagers sat at the white, segregated side of the Woolworth's lunch counter. Despite being slapped and having condiments thrown on her, Moody and the teenagers stood her ground.

February 12, 1965, Malcom X was assassinated. He believed in "Black separatism", where African-Americans were the superior race and "God's chosen people". He was for violence, and believed it was justifiable.

King, 1963, Peapix

Moody, 1963, LA Times

Malcom X, 1963, Britannica

​​​​​​​NICRA

The Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association (NICRA), founded in 1967, claimed it would not favor the Catholics nor the Protestants. NICRA was inspired by the methods of Dr. King and other U.S. civil rights activists who used their constitutional right to demand change without instigating violence. This influenced the group to help Catholics in need, thereby lowering the Protestant control, causing Northern Ireland to separate from England peacefully.

“Different actors in the Northern Ireland civil rights movement appear to have empathised with particular individuals in the American movement…"
~ Brian Dooley, Historian

NICRA event, 1968, Alpha History

Demonstraters, 1968, CAIN

Demonstraters, 1968, CAIN

Interview with Irish Expert, Professor McMahon, 2022, UNLV

The Differences

In contrast, the Irish Republican Army (IRA) did not get their inspiration from Dr. King. Instead, they were influenced by Malcom X. They believed that violence was the only way to separate Ireland from England. NICRA's first protest was an example of this issue going nowhere. The goal of this protest was to fix housing costs in a small village called Coalisland. Originally, this fifteen house project was intended to provide houses to a diverse community. However, at the onset of the protest, fourteen of fifteen houses were given to Protestant tenants. When the fifteenth house was given to a Protestant woman instead of a Catholic family, Catholics and the IRA were outraged.

"Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars."
~ Dr. King

"I am for violence if non-violence means we continue postponing a solution to the American black man's problem just to avoid violence."
~ Malcom X