May Blood

Overview

May Blood born Belfast, Northern Ireland May 26, 1938. Labor organizer and community leader. First woman from Northern Ireland to join House of Lords. During the Troubles, family house was burnt down. Co-founded women’s party Northern Ireland Woman’s Coalition (NIWC), 1996. NIWC opposed violence by Ireland & Northern Ireland, and helped facilitate Good Friday peace, 1998.

Quotations

“I couldn’t understand how the people next door could become my enemy overnight. How was that possible? The part of Belfast that I lived in that is where the Troubles started and it really was scary.” (Civic Voices interview, March 10, 2012; photo BBC)