Good Trouble: The Selma, Alabama and Derry, Northern Ireland Connection 1963-1972

Forest Issac Jones

Anthem Press, Apr 1, 2025 - History - 256 pages

Good Trouble will show 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. This 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.
Award winning author Julieann Campbell (On Bloody Sunday) wrote the introduction for Good Trouble, looking back at her times growing up in Derry, in the heart of the Catholic Civil Rights Movement. Jones travelled to Dublin, Belfast and Derry to conduct interviews for the book. In all, he did fifteen interviews with people who were involved in the movement in Northern Ireland (including Billy McVeigh – featured in the BAFTA winning documentary, Once Upon A Time In Northern Ireland) and in the United States (including Richard Smiley and Dr. Sheyann Webb-Christburg – both were at Bloody Sunday in Alabama and on the Selma to Montgomery march among others). Jones was also able to talk with Eamonn McCann (he took part in the Belfast to Derry march in 1969; he was the John Lewis of Northern Ireland).
Unlike most books on Northern Ireland, this goes into detail about the connection and the influence between the two movements. Also, most focus on Bloody Sunday and not the pivotal incidents at Burntollet Bridge and the Battle of the Bogside. Building off of unprecedented access and interviews with participants in both movements, Jones crafts a gripping and moving account of these pivotal years for both countries.

Contents

• Bloody Sundaythe Impact: 26
• The AftermathThe Selma to Montgomery March: 30
• The Beginning of the Catholic Civil Rights Movement: 30
• Belfast to Derry Marchthe Beginning: 30
• Day oneJanuary 1 1969 Belfast to Derry Long March: 30
• Belfast to DerryToome: 30
• Day Three of the Belfast to Derry March: 30
• Last Day of the Belfast to Derry March: 30
• Battle of the Bogside: 30
• Conclusion: 30
• Bibliography: 28

About the author

Forest Issac Jones is an author of nonfiction, history and essays. He specialises in the study of Irish History, the U.S. Civil Rights Movement and Northern Ireland. He resides in Virginia, USA, and is an adjunct professor at Hollins University.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Good Trouble: The Selma, Alabama and Derry, Northern Ireland Connection 1963-1972
• Author: Forest Issac Jones
• Publisher: Anthem Press, 2025
• ISBN: 1839994630, 9781839994630
• Length: 256 pages
• Subjects: History / Americas (North, Central, South, West Indies); History / Europe / Great Britain / 20th Century; History / Europe / Ireland; History / United States / 20th Century