Black and Green

Civil Rights Struggles in Northern Ireland and Black America

Browse Return to Previous Page       Related Subjects African American Studies All Subjects Race & Culture

by Brian Dooley

Pluto Press

Due/Published May 1998, 192 pages, paper

ISBN 0745312950

Ties between political activists in Black America and Ireland span several centuries. This analysis traces those historic links and examines how the struggle for black civil rights in America was a crucial influence in shaping the campaign against discrimination in Northern Ireland.

Dooley focuses on links that reemerged in the 1960s and have continued to the present day as civil rights protesters in Northern Ireland drew inspiration for their struggle from the civil rights campaigns of the American South. He examines how Irish protesters forged links with the radical Black Panther party and how they also adopted many of their tactics, both violent and non-violent. He also compares the attitude to those imprisoned for criminal offences in both struggles, where all those convicted viewed themselves as political prisoners.