Another of their aims was to play a full and equal role in Northern Ireland, with equal opportunities in education and other areas. They also wanted to sweep away prejudice and discrimination that stood in their way.
Catholics/ Republicans supported it because Catholics generally suffered the worst discrimination. Most protestants/unionists also wanted an end to discrimination. Also Socialists supported it because they wanted a just and fair society for all
The NICRA stated its aims as follows:
- To defend the basic freedoms of all citizens.
- To protect the rights of the individual
- To highlight all the possible abuse of power
- To demand guarantees for freedom, for speech, assembly and association
To inform the public of their lawful rights
There are similarities between the USA black Civil rights movement and Ireland’s Civil rights movement. After the American civil war 1865, laws were passed to make sure blacks were discriminated against and kept as second class citizens by state governments in the American south. These laws were designed to stop voting for blacks- literacy tests were introduced. “Jim Crows” laws meant separate restaurants and other facilities. In 1954, twenty states had separate schools for blacks and whites. The “separate but equal” ruling made by the Supreme Court in 1896 didn’t work in practice- white schools were better and therefore later job opportunities/education were often better. Blacks had the worst paid, unskilled jobs on farms and in factories. They couldn’t get the best jobs in public offices- e.g. town mayors. Poor housing also existed in North America.
By the 1960’s, black Americans began a campaign for equality to end all these things, like discrimination and segregation of blacks in employment, education, law, government and housing. In this way, its aims are like those of the NICRA. However the Irish wanted to end discrimination in areas of religion, and the USA wanted to end racial discrimination.
Both movements originally set out as peaceful movements. The NICRA’s main activities consisted of the June 1968 Austen Currie sit-in to highlight discrimination in housing. In August 1968, there was the Dungannon march against boundary restrictions, equality in jobs, and unfairness in the voting system.
In October 1968, there was a Derry march organised by the Londonderry Housing Action Committee. But this turned to violence. There were highly publicised scenes of RUC officers beating civilians unmercilessly.
The black Civil Rights main activities occurred in 1951, when Linda Brown protested that she had to go to a poor black school, twenty blocks from her home, even though there was a good white school nearby. This case reached court. After this, there were more attempts to end discrimination in schools. There was rioting in Clinton, Tennessee when it tried to integrate its Central High School in 1956. In May 1957, southern Christian leadership organised a “pilgrimage of freedom” to the Lincoln memorial in Washington, over 40,000 attended. In 1961 CORE (Congress of Racial Superiority) started a series of “freedom rides” on buses (since bus stations and other facilities were still segregated. Some gains were achieved by both these movements, but both felt these were “too little, too late”. Both movements later turned to more extreme aims and method.
In the NICRA, in November 1968, the N.I government was forced by the British government to pass concessions- this was after violent rioting and clashes during Civil Rights Protests. O’Neill passes the following reforms.
Councils were to grant houses on a “needs basis”
An independent ombudsman was appointed to investigate complaints against local authorities.
These were simply not enough for many in the NICRA and a more extreme group with demands for total equality was formed (“peoples democracy”). There were further violent clashes at these marches. This year (1969) saw increased violence and extremism against the slowness and inadequacy of reforms. This led to British troops being sent to Northern Ireland, and increased IRA activity, who were demanding total separation from Britain.
In America, the black Civil Rights 1964 Civil Rights Bill was passed, as was the 1965 Voting Rights Bill. Both of these gave more equality. But this was still seen as “too little, too late” and was followed by violent Civil Rights riots in Watts Co, Los Angeles. A new movement called “Black Power” was established. They believed in using violence to achieve their aims and wanted black power and dominance, not just simply integration into the white man’s world.
In conclusion, there are many similarities within the aims and methods of both movements. Both wanted to end discrimination and segregation in a number of areas and both gained some successes. Both felt that because they had had limited success within each particular movement, that there was a cause for more violent demands and methods later on in the history of their movements.
