This book shows the strong connection between the Black Civil Rights Movement in the United States and the Catholic Civil Rights Movement in Northern Ireland – specifically the influence of the Montgomery to Selma march on the 1969 Belfast to Derry march — through oral history, based on numerous interviews of events leading up to both marches and afterwards.
The story is close to the author’s heart as both of his parents marched to integrate lunch counters and movie theatres in Salisbury, North Carolina, in 1963 as college students. His mother was at the 1963 March to Washington where Martin Luther King gave his ‘I Have a Dream’ speech.
Building on unprecedented access and interviews with participants in both movements, the book goes into detail about the connection and the influence between the two movements.
Good Trouble: The Selma, Alabama and Derry, Northern Ireland Connection 1963-1972 by Forest Issac Jones is published on 1 April, 2025.
There are many more ideas for historical reading in our list of over 160 books published this year.
