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 who is a former People’s Democracy activist and a veteran of the Belfast folk music scene. Maddison McCullough who is aged 17, she attends Ashfield Girls High school in East Belfast. And Odhran Morelli who is aged 17 and attends St Mary's Christian Brothers in West Belfast. Both Odhran and Maddison are part of the Youth In Government group which is a political education project for 16-18 year olds led by the YMCA. I began by asking Fergus about his own motivating factors for getting involved with People’s Democracy as a young man…

This episode was produced as part of At the Crossroads: The Campaign for Civil Rights in Northern Ireland, a project developed by The Linen Hall. This project is supported by the Department of Foreign Affairs Reconciliation Fund and has also received financial support from the Northern Ireland Community Relations Council.

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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 this time I have enlisted the help and expertise of Alex Kane.

Alex is the former Director of Communications for the Ulster Unionist Party. These days he is a political commentator and a columnist for several publications including the Belfast Telegraph and the Irish News. I began by asking Alex to give us a sense of Terence O’Neill’s thinking when he delivered the iconic ‘Ulster at the Crossroads’ speech in December 1968.

This episode was produced as part of At the Crossroads: The Campaign for Civil Rights in Northern Ireland, a project developed by The Linen Hall. This project is supported by the Department of Foreign Affairs Reconciliation Fund and has also received financial support from the Northern Ireland Community Relations Council.

Support the show

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 Policy with the Royal Irish Academy. Melissa received her PhD in 2023 from Queen’s University Belfast, which examined the relationship between the Irish diaspora in the United States and the Northern Irish civil rights movement.

I began by asking Melissa to give us an insight into the thinking behind the decision to take the politics of civil rights to the streets…

This episode was produced as part of At the Crossroads: The Campaign for Civil Rights in Northern Ireland, a project developed by The Linen Hall. This project is supported by the Department of Foreign Affairs Reconciliation Fund and has also received financial support from the Northern Ireland Community Relations Council.

Support the show