We Shall Overcome is a famous American folk song . In the mid-1900’s, African Americans sang “We Shall Overcome” to emphasize their struggle for civil rights . Since then, people around the world have sung the song to promote democracy.
“We Shall Overcome” was probably based in part on the hymn “I’ll Overcome Some Day” (about 1900), by the American gospel music composer Charles A. Tindley . The melody of that gospel hymn is different from that of the civil rights song sung today. The melody of the civil rights song may be derived from “I’ll Be All Right,” another gospel hymn sung in Black churches by the early 1900’s. By 1945, the American gospel composer Atron Twigg had added words to the song and the American gospel singer Kenneth Morris had revised its musical arrangement.
Also in 1945, striking tobacco workers in Charleston, South Carolina, sang a version of the song on their picket line. The song came to the attention of Zilphia Horton, cultural director at the Highlander Folk School (now the Highlander Research and Education Center) in Monteagle, Tennessee. Horton’s husband, Myles Horton, had co-founded the school, which was involved with labor and civil rights issues. Either one of the strikers or Zilphia Horton added verses to make the song about labor unions. Mrs. Horton taught the song to the American folk singer Pete Seeger . The song was published in 1948 as “We Will Overcome” in the People’s Songs Bulletin. The bulletin was a publication of the organization People’s Songs, directed by Seeger.
In 1950, the American folk group Joe Glazer and the Elm City Four recorded the song. In the 1950’s, the American folk singer Frank Hamilton helped popularize the song, as did Guy Carawan, a song leader at Highlander. Carawan taught the song to the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) , a civil rights group in Raleigh, North Carolina, in 1960. By 1963, the song’s title and corresponding lyrics had been changed to “We Shall Overcome.” In that year, it was published in the songbook We Shall Overcome! Songs of the Southern Freedom Movement for SNCC.
Also in 1963, the American folk singer Joan Baez performed the song during the historic March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom at the U.S. capital, Washington, D.C. The song has been performed and recorded by many other singers, including the gospel singer Mahalia Jackson ; the folk trio Peter, Paul, and Mary; and the rock musician Bruce Springsteen .
“We Shall Overcome” is found in many versions, often consisting of seven stanzas. One version is shown below:
We shall overcome, we shall overcome, We shall overcome someday; Oh, deep in my heart, I do believe, We shall overcome someday.
The Lord will see us through, the Lord will see us through, The Lord will see us through someday; Oh, deep in my heart, I do believe, We shall overcome someday.
We’re on to victory, we’re on to victory, We’re on to victory someday; Oh, deep in my heart, I do believe, We’re on to victory someday.
We’ll walk hand in hand, we’ll walk hand in hand, We’ll walk hand in hand someday; Oh, deep in my heart, I do believe, We’ll walk hand in hand someday.
We are not afraid, we are not afraid, We are not afraid today; Oh, deep in my heart, I do believe, We are not afraid today.
The truth shall make us free, the truth shall make us free, The truth shall make us free someday; Oh, deep in my heart, I do believe, The truth shall make us free someday.
We shall live in peace, we shall live in peace, We shall live in peace someday; Oh, deep in my heart, I do believe, We shall live in peace someday.
