Songs of civil rights movement celebrated

Posted By: September 22, 2017

 Connla Young. Irish News. Belfast. Friday, September 22, 2017

page2image376
WE SHALL OVERCOME: A civil rights march at Dungannon, Co Tyrone in 1968.
 Below, Songs Of The Civil Rights will be showcased in Maghera, believed to be the
 birthplace of the movement in Ireland

A NIGHT of song to celebrate the sounds of the civil rights movement will take place in Co Derry tonight.

The Songs of the Civil Rights Movement event, which

coincides with Culture Night 2017, will take place in Maghera – the south Derry town many believe was the birthplace of the movement in Ireland.

The event has been organized by the County Derry Centenaries Group (CDCG) to mark the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the movement.

The idea of what later developed into the civil rights movement was first discussed at a meeting of the Wolf Tone Societies in the Maghera home of republican solicitor Kevin Agnew in August 1966.

Further meetings were held and in April in 1967, the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association formally came into being.

The organization came to wider prominence in August 1968 when a march took place between Coalisland and Dungannon to highlight anti-Catholic housing discrimination.

Parallels have been drawn between the Irish civil rights movement and its American counterpart, which campaigned for equal rights for black people.

Friday night’s event will showcase the music of folk artists such as Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, and Pete Seeger and the event will be anchored by local musician

Michael Glackin and members of his band, The Muddlers Club.

The two-part programme of events will also include a special screening of the film Selma next week, which is about the 1965 march from Selma to Montgomery in the US state of Alabama demanding equal voting rights for black people.

The night of music will take place in McKenna’s Bar, Maghera tonight.
Selma will be screened in Movie House, Maghera on Wednesday, September 27 at 7.15 pm.