Bloody Sunday 50th Anniversary Symposium

The Irish Studies program at Boston College is hosting on February 18 -19, 2022, a symposium to mark the fiftieth anniversary of Bloody Sunday in Derry and the enduring relevance of its legacy. The program features an academic conference and screening of two drama films. Guest speakers include award-winning author and Bloody Sunday relative Julieann Campbell, political scientist and historian Niall Ó Dochartaigh, and public historian Margo Shea.

On 30 January 1972, a British paratrooper unit opened fire on a protest march for civil rights in the Bogside area of Derry, Northern Ireland, shooting 26 unarmed Catholic civilians. The events of that fatal day became a foundational moment for the Northern Irish conflict (known as the “The Troubles”) and their repercussions continued to reverberate over the following decades. The local community has commemorated the day annually and, unsatisfied by a flawed tribunal under Lord Widgery, the bereaved families launched a campaign demanding truth and justice. As part of the peace process that led to the Good Friday Agreement, in 1998 a Bloody Sunday Inquiry (chaired by Lord Saville) was established and, following a lengthy and comprehensive investigation, in 2010 the British prime minister David Cameron issued a public apology.

Saturday's event will include talks by Guy Beiner (Boston College), Rob Savage (Boston College), Margo Shea (Salem State University), Niall Ó Dochartaigh (NUI Galway), Julieann Campbell (University of Ulster), as well as a screening of Bloody Sunday (2002) and a book launch for On Bloody Sunday: A New History of the Day and its Aftermath by Those Who Were There (Monoray). Please find the full schedule below.

Saturday, February 19

9 am – 10:00 am, Devlin 008, Conference

Introductory Greetings

Guy Beiner, Boston College, "Bloody Sundays: Remembrance of State Violence Against Civilian Protest"

Rob Savage, Boston College, "Televised Terror: The BBC’s Coverage of Bloody Sunday"

10am – 11:00 am, Devlin 008, Conference

Margo Shea, Salem State University, "Bulldozers and Army Tanks: Remembering Twinned Violence in the Bogside in the Wake of Bloody Sunday"

11 am –11:30 am - coffee break

11:30 am – 23:30 pm, Devlin 008, Conference

Niall Ó Dochartaigh, NUI Galway, "Bloody Sunday and the Saville Inquiry: Between Politics and the Law"

12:30 pm – 1:30 pm, Devlin 008, Conference

Julieann Campbell, University of Ulster, "Bloody Sunday – Then and Now"

1:30 pm – LUNCH

3:00 pm – 5:00 pm, Devlin 008, Film Screening

Bloody Sunday (2002), Directed by Paul Greengrass (Granada)

Introduction to the film: Rob Savage, Interim Director of Irish Studies, Boston College

Response and Q&A with Niall Ó Dochartaigh

5:30 pm, Connolly House, Memorial Tribute and Book Launch

Julieann Campbell, On Bloody Sunday: A New History of the Day and its Aftermath by Those Who Were There (Monoray)

Marking also the recent publications of:

Margo Shea, Derry City: Memory and Political Struggle in Northern Ireland (University of Notre Dame Press).

Niall Ó Dochartaigh, Deniable Contact: Back-Channel Negotiation in Northern Ireland (Oxford University Press).

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