Bernadette Devlin: A Voice of Anti-Colonial Solidarity and Transnational Civil Rights Activism

Zách, Lili (2026) Bernadette Devlin: A Voice of Anti-Colonial Solidarity and Transnational Civil Rights Activism. In: Hungarian Perspectives on Ireland. Károli Könyvek. Tanulmánykötet . L'Harmattan Kiadó; Károli Gáspár Református Egyetem; Éditions L'Harmattan; L’Harmattan Open Access, Budapest, Paris, pp. 61-75. ISBN 9782336615448; 9789636465940

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Abstract

By highlighting the significance of transnational solidarity within the context of civil rights activism, this article focuses on County Tyrone-born Bernadette Devlin (now McAliskey) and her commitment to defending the “peasants” and the “havenots” (as highlighted in her maiden speech at Westminster in April 1969) in and beyond the six northern counties. This study provides insights into how Devlin’s memoir, The Price of My Soul (1969), revealed the universality of her commitment to the defense of civil rights and anti-colonial solidarity. Moreover, it analyzes the importance of the African-American non-violent civil rights protest song, We Shall Overcome, in the North of Ireland between 1968 and 1972, arguing that the communal performance of the song functioned as an act of solidarity with not only the protesters “walking hand in hand” but also with those across the globe following non-violent resistance and civil disobedience against oppression.

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