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We Shall Overcome is a protest song that became a key anthem of the US civil rights movement.
History
The song derives from a gospel song, possibly a 1903 song by Rev. Charles Tindley of Philadelphia containing the repeated line "I'll overcome some day", but more likely a later gospel song containing the line "Deep in my heart, I do believe / I'll overcome some day." In Charleston, South Carolina in 1946, striking employees of the American Tobacco Company, mostly African American women, were singing hymns on the picket line. A woman named Lucille Simmons sang a slow "long meter style" version of the song, as "We'll Overcome". Zilphia Horton, a white woman and the wife of the co-founder of the Highlander Folk School (later Highlander Research and Education Center) learned it from her. The next year she taught it to Pete Seeger. 1990, 222-223, 1993, 32
Pete Seeger (or someone else, he himself isn't sure and writes that it may have been Highlander's Septima Clark) changed "We will overcome" to "We shall overcome"; Seeger added some verses ("We'll walk hand in hand", "The whole wide world around") and taught it to Californian singer Frank Hamilton, who taught it to Guy Carawan, who re-introduced it to Highlander in 1959. From there, it spread orally and became an anthem of southern African American labor union and civil rights activism. 1990, 222-223, 1993, 32
From 1963 on, the song was associated with Joan Baez, who recorded it and performed it at a number of Civil Rights marches and years later at the 1969 Woodstock festival.
On March 16, 1965, President Lyndon Johnson used the phrase "We shall overcome" in a speech before Congress *. Only a few days before, "Bloody Sunday" had occurred on the Selma to Montgomery marches.
Farmworkers in the United States sang the song in Spanish during the strikes and grape boycotts of the late 1960s.
The song later found its way to South Africa in the later years of the anti-apartheid movement. 1990, 243
In India, its literal translation in Hindi "Hum Honge Kaamyab / Ek Din" became a patriotic/spiritual song during the Eighties, particularly in schools and the song's popularity has endured till today.
Bruce Springsteen re-interpreted the song, which has been included on Where Have All the Flowers Gone: A Tribute to Pete Seeger, and his 2006 album The Pete Seeger Sessions.
Copyright and royalties
Copyright on the song is held by Seeger, Carawan and Hamilton. Seeger explained that he took out a defensive copyright on advice of his publisher to prevent someone else from doing so and "At that time we didn't know Lucille Simmons' name." 1993, 33 All royalties from the song go to the "We Shall Overcome" Fund, adminstered by Highlander and used to give small grants for cultural expression involving African Americans organizing in the U.S. South. Reports, 2004, 3
1.
We shall overcome
We shall overcome
We shall overcome some day
CHORUS:
Oh, deep in my heart
I do believe
We shall overcome some day
2.
We'll walk hand in hand
We'll walk hand in hand
We'll walk hand in hand some day
(CHORUS)
3.
We shall all be free
We shall all be free
We shall all be free some day
(CHORUS)
4.
We are not afraid
We are not afraid
We are not afraid today
(CHORUS)
5.
We are not alone
We are not alone
We are not alone some day
(CHORUS)
6.
The whole wide world around
The whole wide world around
The whole wide world around some day
(CHORUS)
7.
We shall overcome
We shall overcome
We shall overcome some day
(CHORUS)
See also
External links
- Susanne´s Folksong-Notizen, excerpts from various articles, liner notes, etc. about "We Shall Overcome".
- Musical Transcription of "We Shall Overcome". Based on recording of SNCC Freedom Singers with Pete Seeger.
- NPR news article including full streaming versions of Pete Seeger's classic Carnegie hall live recording and Bruce Springsteen's tribute version.
- "Something about that song haunts you" essay on the history of "We Shall Overcome" at Complicated Fun (6/9/06).
References
- Dunaway, David, How Can I Keep from Singing: Pete Seeger, (orig. pub. 1981, reissued 1990). Da Capo, New York, ISBN 0306803991.
- Seeger, Pete and Blood, Peter (Ed.), Where Have All the Flowers Gone?: A Singer's Stories, Songs, Seeds, Robberies (1993). Independent Publications Group, Sing Out Publications, ISBN 1881322017.
- ___, "The We Shall Overcome Fund". Highlander Reports, newsletter of the Highlander Research and Education Center, August-November 2004, p.3.
1903 songs | History of African-American civil rights | Pete Seeger songs | Protest songs
"We Shall Overcome"