Bernadette Devlin was studying Psychology at Queen's University, Belfast in 1968 when she took a prominent role in a student-led civil rights political party called People's Democracy. She opposed James Chichester-Clark in the Northern Ireland general election of 1969. When the M.P. for Mid-Ulster died, she fought the by-election on the 'Unity' ticket, defeating a female Unionist candidate, Anna Forrest, and was elected to the Westminster Parliament at the age of 21. She stood on the slogan 'I will take my seat and fight for your rights'