The Bogside, civil rights and remembrance
In the late 1960s, inspired by the civil rights movement in the United States, people in the Bogside and across Northern Ireland marched to demand equal treatment — over housing, jobs and voting rights. The gable end reading "You Are Now Entering Free Derry" was first painted in January 1969, and has been maintained ever since. It became, and remains, one of the most recognised landmarks of that period.
In August 1969 the area saw the Battle of the Bogside, days of serious unrest between residents and police that spread across Northern Ireland. Then, on 30 January 1972 — the day known as Bloody Sunday — British soldiers opened fire on a civil rights march in the Bogside. Thirteen people were killed that day; another died later of his injuries. The Bloody Sunday Memorial, a stone obelisk near Rossville Street, records the names of those who died. After a long campaign by the families, the Saville Inquiry reported in 2010 that those killed had posed no threat and that the shootings were without justification.
The People's Gallery — twelve large murals along Rossville Street, painted by the Bogside Artists, brothers Tom and William Kelly with Kevin Hasson, and funded by local donations — sets these events out on the walls of the community itself: the civil rights marches, the Battle of the Bogside, Bloody Sunday, the hunger strikes, and, at the end, a dove of peace. Nearby stands a memorial to the hunger strikers as well.
Today the Bogside is an ordinary neighbourhood that carries an extraordinary history, told by the community in its own way. The Museum of Free Derry, on Glenfada Park, sets it all out with firsthand accounts and artefacts. It's a place to walk quietly, look, and understand.