We Shall Overcome facts for kids
"We Shall Overcome" is a famous gospel song that became a powerful protest song. It was a key anthem for the American Civil Rights Movement. This movement worked for equal rights for all people. The song's words are thought to come from an older hymn called "I'll Overcome Some Day." This hymn was written by Charles Albert Tindley in 1901.
The modern version of "We Shall Overcome" was first sung by tobacco factory workers. This happened during a strike in Charleston, South Carolina, around 1945. A woman named Lucille Simmons led the workers in singing it. Later, in 1947, the song was printed in a newsletter called the People's Songs Bulletin. Zilphia Horton, a music director, shared the song. She said she learned it from Lucille Simmons. Horton taught the song to many people, including the famous folk singer Pete Seeger.
The song became very important to the Civil Rights Movement starting in 1959. Guy Carawan helped spread it widely. He taught it at the Highlander Folk School, which focused on peaceful civil rights actions. Soon, it was the movement's unofficial song. Pete Seeger and other singers like Joan Baez sang it at rallies and concerts. This helped make it known across the country. Since then, "We Shall Overcome" has been used in many protests around the world.
For a long time, a company claimed to own the copyright to the song's lyrics. However, in 2017, a judge said that the lyrics were not different enough from older versions that were already free for everyone to use. In 2018, the company agreed to stop claiming copyright. This means the song is now in the public domain for everyone to use freely.
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How the Song Started: Gospel and Folk Roots
"I'll Overcome Some Day" was a gospel music hymn. It was written by Reverend Charles Albert Tindley from Philadelphia in 1901. Tindley was a well-known minister. He wrote about 50 gospel hymns. Some of his most famous songs include "We'll Understand It By and By" and "Stand By Me". The words of "I'll Overcome Some Day" were inspired by a Bible verse. It said, "You shall overcome if you faint not."
The first verse of Tindley's hymn went like this:
The world is one great battlefield,
With forces all arrayed;
If in my heart I do not yield,
I'll overcome some day.
Tindley's songs used sounds from African American folk traditions. They often had parts where the church members could join in. Tindley was important because his words spoke to his listeners. Many of them had been freed from slavery not long before. They were often poor and had just moved to the North.
In 1909, a newspaper for mine workers mentioned the song. It said, "Last year at a strike, we opened every meeting with a prayer, and singing that good old song, 'We Will Overcome'." This shows the song was already known. It also shows it was sung in a non-religious setting and by people of different races.
"I'll Overcome Some Day" by Tindley is thought to have shaped "We Shall Overcome." Both the words and the tune changed over time. The melody now sounds like the beginning and end of another song called "No More Auction Block For Me." This song is also known as "Many Thousands Gone."
Interestingly, Bob Dylan said he used the same tune from "No More Auction Block" for his song, "Blowin' in the Wind". This shows how similar tunes and rhythms can connect different important songs.
Music experts also noticed that the first part of "We Shall Overcome" sounds like the Catholic hymn "O Sanctissima". This hymn was first published in the late 1700s. The second part of "We Shall Overcome" is like the 19th-century hymn "I'll Be All Right." So, "We Shall Overcome" came from many older songs. It changed and adapted over time, which is common for folk music.
Highlander Folk School's Role
In October 1945, in Charleston, South Carolina, many workers went on strike. Most of them were African American women. They worked for the American Tobacco Company. To keep their spirits up during the cold winter, a striker named Lucille Simmons led them in singing. She sang a slow version of the gospel hymn, "We'll Overcome (I'll Be All Right)."
Zilphia Horton was a union organizer. She was also the music director at the Highlander Folk School. She said she learned the song from Lucille Simmons. Horton often ended meetings at Highlander by leading this song. In 1948, "We Will Overcome" was printed in a newsletter. Horton wrote that she learned it from the striking workers.
Pete Seeger, a founding member of People's Songs, learned the song from Horton in 1947. Seeger changed "We will" to "We shall." He felt "We shall" sounded more open and was easier to sing. He also added new verses, like "We'll walk hand in hand."
In 1950, a labor album was released. It included "We Will Overcome." The song was first recorded as "We Shall Overcome" in 1952. It was sung by Laura Duncan and The Jewish Young Singers.
Frank Hamilton, a folk singer, learned Seeger's version. Hamilton's friend, Guy Carawan, learned the song from Hamilton. Carawan visited Highlander in the early 1950s. He also heard Zilphia Horton sing the song there. In 1957, Seeger sang for an audience at Highlander that included Martin Luther King Jr.. King was very moved by the song.
In 1959, Guy Carawan became the music director at Highlander. He brought the song back to the school. Young student activists at Highlander changed the song's words and rhythm. They sang it to stay strong during police raids and jail stays in 1959–1960. Because of this, Carawan often gives credit to these students for the song's popularity. Julian Bond said Carawan taught the song at the first meeting of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee in 1960. From there, it spread quickly and became a key song for civil rights workers in the South.
Used in Civil Rights and Other Movements
In August 1963, folk singer Joan Baez, who was 22, led a huge crowd. About 300,000 people sang "We Shall Overcome" at the March on Washington. This march was a very important event for civil rights.
President Lyndon B. Johnson used the phrase "we shall overcome" in a speech to Congress. This was on March 15, 1965. He spoke after the violent "Bloody Sunday" attacks on civil rights marchers in Selma. His words helped show support for the protest movement.
Just four days before Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in 1968, he spoke the words from "We Shall Overcome." This was in his last sermon in Memphis. He had also used the words in a sermon in 1965. He said:
We shall overcome. We shall overcome. Deep in my heart I do believe we shall overcome. And I believe it because somehow the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice. We shall overcome because Carlyle is right; "no lie can live forever". We shall overcome because William Cullen Bryant is right; "truth crushed to earth will rise again". We shall overcome because James Russell Lowell is right:
Truth forever on the scaffold,
Wrong forever on the throne.
Yet that scaffold sways the future,
And behind the then unknown
Standeth God within the shadow,
Keeping watch above his own.
With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith, we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith, we will be able to speed up the day. And in the words of prophecy, every valley shall be exalted. And every mountain and hill shall be made low. The rough places will be made plain and the crooked places straight. And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together. This will be a great day. This will be a marvelous hour. And at that moment—figuratively speaking in biblical words—the morning stars will sing together and the sons of God will shout for joy
"We Shall Overcome" was sung by more than fifty thousand people at King's funeral.
Farmworkers in the United States sang the song in Spanish. This was during strikes and grape boycotts in the late 1960s. U.S. Senator Robert F. Kennedy also sang it. He led anti-Apartheid crowds in South Africa in 1966. The song also returned to South Africa later.
The Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association used "we shall overcome" as a slogan. The film Bloody Sunday shows a leader singing the song. This was just before the 1972 shootings. Bruce Springsteen recorded his own version of the song in 2006.
Used Around the World
"We Shall Overcome" was used by many groups. These included labor unions and political movements. In 1989, during the Velvet Revolution in Czechoslovakia, hundreds of thousands of people sang it. They sang it in English and Czech. The song's message of hope helped protesters keep going.
The song's melody was used in a symphony by William Rowland. In 1999, National Public Radio listed "We Shall Overcome" as one of the most important American songs of the 20th century. After Barack Obama became president in 2009, a man held a banner saying "WE HAVE OVERCOME."
In 2010, Roger Waters of Pink Floyd released a new version. It was a protest against the Israeli blockade of Gaza. In 2012, Bruce Springsteen performed the song in Oslo. This was at a concert after the 2011 terrorist attacks in Norway.
In India, the poet Girija Kumar Mathur translated it into Hindi. It became a popular patriotic song in schools. In Bengali-speaking India and Bangladesh, there are two popular versions. One was translated by Hemanga Biswas. The other was sung during the 1971 War of Independence. It was a favorite of Bangladesh's Prime Minister Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
In the Indian state of Kerala, the song became popular on college campuses. It was translated into Malayalam as "Nammal Vijayikkum."
"We Shall Overcome" was a key song in the 2010 Bollywood film My Name is Khan. The film compared the struggles of Muslims in modern America to those of African Americans in the past. The song was sung in both English and Hindi in the movie.
In 2014, a recording of "We Shall Overcome" was sent into space. It was on the first test flight of the Orion spacecraft. The Argentine writer María Elena Walsh wrote a Spanish version called "Venceremos."
Copyright Information
The copyright of "We Shall Overcome" was debated for many years. In 1960, a copyright was registered for the song. It was listed as an arrangement by Zilphia Horton, Guy Carawan, Frank Hamilton, and Pete Seeger. They shared half of the rights. A company called The Richmond Organization (TRO) held the other half. Pete Seeger said he registered the copyright to protect the song. He worried someone else might claim it. The money earned from the song went to the "We Shall Overcome" Fund. This fund helped African Americans organizing in the U.S. South.
In 2016, a group sued TRO and Ludlow. They wanted the song's copyright status to be clear. They argued that TRO's copyright claims were not valid. This was because the original copyright had not been renewed. This meant the 1948 version of "We Will Overcome" was already free to use. They also said the registered copyright only covered small changes, not the whole song.
On September 8, 2017, a judge ruled. She said the changes made to the song were not enough to create a new copyright. The main changes were "will" to "shall" and "down in my heart" to "deep in my heart." These were not considered original enough.
On January 26, 2018, TRO-Ludlow agreed to a settlement. They would no longer claim copyright over the song's melody or lyrics. This means "We Shall Overcome" is now in the public domain. Anyone can use it freely.
See also
In Spanish: We shall overcome para niños
- Civil rights movement in popular culture
- Timeline of the civil rights movement
- Christian child's prayer § Spirituals
