pancocojams

Friday, August 28, 2026

The 63rd Anniversary Of The 1963 Civil Rights March On Washington (with examples of chants from that 2026 Anniversary March)

March on Washington 2026: Thousands Rally to Defend the Vote and Civil Rights | AC1N

DRM News, Aug 28, 2026 #MarchOnWashington2026 #DefendTheVote #VotingRights

Thousands gathered in Washington, D.C., for the “March on Washington 2026: Defend the Vote,” marking the 63rd anniversary of the historic 1963 march. Reverend Al Sharpton, Spike Lee, Yolanda Renee King and other prominent figures joined the rally as speakers and activists called for voting rights, civil rights and economic justice.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NF39BlZKZwg
-snip-
Most of these marchers were Black, but there were a considerable number of White people who also in this march.

In age, the marchers appeared to be from the early 20s on up. Most of the marchers appeared to be over the age of 40 years old. I didn't see any children among these marchers.

There were a number of people in this march who were wheelchairs or walking with canes.

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Edited by Azizi Powell

This pancocojams post showcases a YouTube video of the 63rd anniversary of the March on Washington. That march was held on August 28, 2026 in front of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C.

This post includes a news article about this 63rd anniversary march and presents the words to several chants that are heard in that showcase video.

The content of this post is presented for historical and socio-cultural purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to the organizers and leaders of this march and thanks to all those who participated in this march. Thanks also to all those who are quoted in this post and thanks to the publisher of this video on YouTube.

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NEWS ARTICLE EXCERPT ABOUT THE 63RD YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF THE CIVIL RIGHTS MARCH ON WASHINGTON
From https://www.yahoo.com/news/politics/articles/one-different-63rd-anniversary-march-190500945.html ‘This one is different’: 63rd anniversary of March on Washington comes at a moment of crisis for Black Americans published by Gerren Keith Gaynor, August 28, 2026
"Thousands descended on the Lincoln Memorial plaza on Friday in Washington, D.C., to participate in a demonstration marking the 63rd anniversary of the March on Washington for Freedom and Jobs.

While there have been several such commemorations since the original 1963 march organized by civil rights leaders Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., A. Philip Randolph, Bayard Rustin, John Lewis, and others, Black leaders in 2026 say that the stakes for this year's march are higher than ever following the rollback of voting rights and economic opportunity and the mysterious deaths of young Black men in the South.

"This one is different," says Marc Morial, President and CEO of the National Urban League. He told theGrio, "The urgency comes after a sustained 18-to-20-month attack on all of the victories of the civil rights movement, from equal opportunity in employment through attacks on diversity, through the Supreme Court's gutting of the Voting Rights Act by way of the Callais case."

The theme of this year's march, organized by Rev. Al Sharpton's National Action Network and Martin Luther King III's Drum Major Institute, is "Protect the Vote." Following the Supreme Court's Louisiana v. Callais ruling in April, which struck down protections against racial discrimination in voting for Black Americans, Republican-controlled states in the South, at the direction of President Donald Trump, moved to eliminate majority-Black Congressional districts, threatening generations of Black electoral representation.

"Defending the vote means defending the foundation of our democracy," said Martin Luther King III. "Sixty-three years after my father stood at the Lincoln Memorial, we are called to march again, not only in remembrance, but in action."

Morial told theGrio that this year brings a "sense of urgency and purpose," adding, "There's no commemorative element of this march. This march is about defending the vote. This march is about restoring equal opportunity. This march is about resistance to a movement that is taking America in the absolute wrong direction."

In addition to voting rights rollbacks, Black Americans are seeing a rise in unemployment and less access to economic opportunity, including cuts to higher education funding and critical social services like Medicaid, as a result of Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill, passed last July.

"The big ugly bill is damaging America in ways beyond description," said Morial. "We want the world to know that there is another path other than the path of division and destruction, and billionaire tax benefits and cuts to healthcare, education, and [enforcing] violent immigration enforcement strategies."

[…]

The 63rd anniversary of the March on Washington also marks the anniversary of the 1955 lynching of 14-year-old Emmett Till, who was murdered by a mob of white men in Mississippi. Organizers of the 1963 march intentionally chose Aug. 28 as the date of the historic demonstration to honor Till's life.

The joint commemorations of the March on Washington and Till's murder come as Black America mourns the mysterious deaths of young Black men killed in the South: Nolan Wells, 18, who died during a July 4 boat trip with white friends on Horn Island, Mississippi; Daniel Irving, 18, who drowned at a north Texas lake in April; and Tyler Smith, 18, who died of a gunshot wound to the head while reportedly playing Russian Roulette with friends.

"Seventy-one years later…we gather again because the lynching of Black people did not end…[with] Emmett Till," said McMillan.

[…]

The civil rights leader said the community is demanding transparency, adding, "What the families deserve are answers to three deaths that are suspicious…the failure of the justice system to adequately respond is what we raise in a march like this."

McMillan said Black Americans overall are witnessing a "modern-day lynching of our rights." He lamented, "We're seeing voting rights stripped away and democracy being harder to access. We're seeing diversity, equity, and inclusion being dismantled in front of our eyes."

Before leading Friday's march from the Lincoln Memorial to the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial, Rev. Sharpton called out the Trump administration and those he said are working to "pervert the dream" that King fought so hard to achieve. He declared, "The dream is still alive," even as Black communities experience setbacks."...

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EXAMPLES OF SOME CHANTS FROM THE 2026 MARCH ON WASHINGTON
(as heard in the YouTube video that is showcased in this pancocojams post:) *

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NF39BlZKZwg )

These chants are numbered for referencing purposes only.

1. call: "Who has the power?"

response: "We have the power".

**
2. call: "Show me what democracy looks like."

response: "This is what democracy looks like."

**
3. call: "Ain't no power like the power of the people
'cause the power of the people don't stop."

response- "Say what?"

**
4. call: "Whose streets?"

response: "Our streets."

**
5. call: "When I say Breanna you say Taylor. Breanna!

response: Taylor!

call: "When I say "George" you say Floyd. George!

response: Floyd!
-snip-
This chant is about those Black people who have died in the last ten years or so at the hands of United States policemen

**
6. call: "No justice!"

Response: "No peace!"

**
7. call: "Justice!"

response: "Now!"

call: "If we don't get it"

response: " Shut it down!"

**
8. "Save the vote!"

*These are only the chants that I could decipher. There were other chants whose words I couldn't decipher.

Additions and corrections are welcome.

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Visitor comments are welcome.

Thursday, August 27, 2026

Five YouTube Eamples Of The African American Gospel Song "We've Come This Far By Faith" (with lyrics & information about its composer Albert A. Goodson)

Come This Far By Faith

1CNLT, Mar 9, 2014

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QWiCeB2yMhs
-snip-
Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2021/01/celebrate-new-life-tabernacle-choir.html for a 2021 pancocojams post "Marching Into The Church Sanctuary Singing "We've Come This Far By Faith" (2014 YouTube video of Celebrate New Life Tabernacle Choir from Tallahassee, Florida). That post showcases this video and includes selected comments from its discussion thread.

Also, click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2015/01/nine-examples-of-gospel-song-weve-come.html for the 201r pancocojams post "Nine Examples Of The Gospel Song "We've Come This Far By Faith" (with lyrics).

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Edited by Azizi Powell

This pancocojams post showcases four YouTube examples of the African American Gospel song "We've Come This Far By Faith".

This post also presents the lyrics for that song and information about its composer Albert A.Goodson.

The content of this post is presented for historical, religious, inspirational, and aesthetic purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to Albert A Goodson for composing this song and for his religious legacy. Thanks to all those who are featured in these YouTube videos and thanks to all those who are quoted in this post. Thanks also to the publishers of the examples of these songs on YouTube.

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE COMPOSER OF THE GOSPEL SONG "WE'VE COME THIS FAR BY FAITH"

From https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/articles/history-of-hymns-weve-come-this-far-by-faith

History of Hymns: 'We've Come This Far by Faith'

By C. Michael Hawn, February 12, 2020
..."Albert A. Goodson (1933-2003), a Los Angeles native, and his twin brother were born to Arthur and Clara Goodson, who reared them in the Pentecostal tradition. According to an interview, Albert stated, “I started my interest in music as a child. However, my parents were too poor to buy a piano, so I would take a wooden board and pretend to play on it as if it were a keyboard” (Terry, 2016, n.p.). He received his only formal music education from musicians at Los Angeles’ St. Paul Baptist Church from age twelve including gospel music legends “Prof.” J. Earle Hines (1916-1960), the congregation’s minister of music, and pianist Gwendolyn Cooper-Lightner (1925-1999). The 200-voice choir was an inspiration. Goodson lived just down the street from St. Paul and could hear their rehearsals during the week:

'I enjoyed listening to the singers at the Baptist church so much... I learned everything the pianist would play. I could “hear” it during the week, and I would play it again and again in my mind (Terry, 2016, n.p.).'

Cooper-Lightner formed the Echoes of Eden choir at the church, a group that helped establish the congregation’s reputation in gospel music. Weekly broadcasts each Sunday reached an estimated audience of one million people in seventeen states. These financed recordings of the choir.

Goodson’s experience as the assistant pianist for the Echoes of Eden Choir and Hines Good Will Singers prepared him to be the choir director at Grace Memorial Church of God in Christ and the Opportunity Baptist Church. He moved to Chicago in 1955 to assume the position of minister of music at Fellowship Baptist Church. At the invitation of Thomas Wyatt (1891-1964), founder of Pentecostal “Latter Rain Movement,” Goodson returned to Los Angeles in 1961 to lead the interdenominational Wings of Healing Faith Choir. This choir complemented Wyatt’s Wings of Healing Ministry. Following this, he formed the Albert Goodson Singers. His skills as a pianist were recognized by requests for him to accompany some of the gospel legends such as the Sallie Martin Singers, the Simmons-Akers Singers, the Sky Pilot Choir, Mahalia Jackson (1911-1972), and Thurston G. Frazier (1930-1974), director of the Voices of Hope Choir.

In the mid-twentieth century, Chicago was a major hub of African American gospel music with the presence of composer and publisher of African American gospel music Kenneth Morris and gospel performers Sallie Martin (1896-1988), Thomas A. Dorsey (1899-1993), Roberta Martin (1907-1969), Mahalia Jackson, James Cleveland (1931-1991), and others. During this time, Los Angeles was viewed as a place of opportunity for African Americans, but it was beginning to find its gospel voice. In addition to those mentioned above, Doris Akers (1922-1995), composer of “There’s a Sweet, Sweet Spirit in this Place,” played a major role on the west coast (See Djedje, 1993, pp. 412-457). Goodson was one of the gospel artists that established Los Angeles as a center of gospel music in the African American tradition.

The first publication of the song ["We've Come This Far By Faith] was as a choral octavo in 1956. The first album released by Voices of Hope in 1960 included Goodson’s “We’ve Come This Far by Faith” under the direction of Thurston G. Frazier. Though Frazier is listed as the arranger of the music as found in Songs of Zion, one will recognize his influence only on the choral parts. Compared with the musical score, the accompaniment on the first recording is much more developed. This recording with Gwendolyn Cooper-Lightner on piano and Goodman on the Hammond organ is available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=89&v=VNVSZ338nmQ&feature=emb_logo. *

African American gospel music scholar Horace Clarence Boyer indicates the significance of this hymn in African American worship by observing that many congregations in this era began worship with “We’ve Come This Far by Faith” as the processional and concluded worship with Thomas A. Dorsey’s “God Be with You” (Boyer, 1995, p. 206). The song was composed during the brief time after Goodson moved from Los Angeles to Chicago:

'I was living in Chicago, alone. I was never married, and I didn’t have a relative or a close friend in that city. I became very discouraged. One day, during a depressed state, I sat down at the piano in a friend’s home and began to play a melody running through my mind. As I played the Lord seemed to speak to me saying, “We’ve come this far by faith. . .” (Terry, 2016, n.p.).'

A composer of other songs, Goodson was surprised at the song’s success:

'I never thought my song would be a hit, because it sounded like a Sunday School song to me. But it just seemed to take immediately. People started singing it everywhere. I just couldn’t believe it. . . . And I’ve written other songs but they have never done what that song has done (Djedje, 1993, p. 421).'

The song was first performed in 1956 by the Radio Choir of the Fellowship Baptist Church in Chicago. Goodson found solace in 1 Peter 1:7: “...the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ . . .” (KJV) (Terry, 2016, n.p.). One is also reminded of I Samuel 7:12, “Then Samuel took a stone, and set it between Mizpeh and Shen, and called the name of it Ebenezer, saying, Hitherto hath the Lord helped us” (KJV). The famous reference to the Ebenezer stone is also cited in stanza 2 of “Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing” by Robert Robinson (1735-1790). In addition, see I Chronicles 17:16b: “Who am I, O Lord God, and what is mine house, that thou hast brought me hitherto?” (KJV)

Stanza 1, beginning with “Don’t be discouraged . . .,” offers encouragement with the assurance that “He’ll bear your burdens.” Stanza 2 offers a personal testimony, beginning with a spoken recitation, “Just the other day I heard a man say he didn’t believe in God’s Word . . .”. The response of the witness is, “He’s never failed me yet.”...
-snip-
*This song file is given as YouTube Example #2 immediately below.

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OFFICIAL LYRICS FOR "WE'VE COME THIS FAR BY FAITH"

(by Albert A. Goodson)

We've come this far by faith
Leaning on the LORD
Trusting in His Holy Word
He never failed me yet
Oh' can't turn around
We've come this far by faith

(Repeat)

Don't be discouraged
when trouble comes into your life
He will bear your burdens
And remove all our misery and strife
And that's why

Chorus

Just the other day
I heard a man say
He didn't believe in God words
But I can truly say the lord will make a way
because He, He's never failed me yet.

Chorus

Online Source: https://www.elyrics.net/read/c/carlton-pearson-lyrics/we_ve-come-this-far-by-faith-lyrics.html

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MORE SHOWCASE YOUTUBE EXAMPLES OF THIS GOSPEL SONG

These examples are given in no particular order.

Numbers are added for referencing purposes only.

YouTube Example #2 - Voices of Hope singing "We"ve Come This Far By Faith"

Gospellin, April 13, 2009

Wonderful choir from Los Angeles under the direction of Thurston Frazier

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VNVSZ338nmQ&t=89s

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YouTube Example #3- Bishop Carlton Pearson - We've Come This Far By Faith | Live At AZUSA 4

WY Music '95, Nov 22, 2023 #azusa #carltonpearson

ORU Mabee Center - Tulsa, Oklahoma

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2xJlXpHBPQ

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YouTube Example # 4- Rev. Milton Biggham - We've Come This Far By Faith

Malaco Gospel, October 17, 2017

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=81a7V0MhJpg

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YouTube Example #5 - Troy Ramey - We've Come This Far

malacomg, Apr 2, 2014 #ClassicGospel #SoulGospel #SouthernGospel

Experience the uplifting power of "We've Come This Far" by the legendary Troy Ramey. This timeless gospel classic delivers a message of resilience and faith through powerful vocals and soulful arrangements.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0jW7ELHuZM

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Visitor comments are welcome.

Comments From The Discussion Thread For The 2015 Pancocojams Post "The REAL Origin Of The Word "Ungawa" & Various Ways That Word Has Been Used In The USA"

Edited by Azizi Powell

This pancocojams post presents 66 comments that are published in the 2015 pancocojams post entitled "The REAL Origin Of The Word "Ungawa" & Various Ways That Word Has Been Used In The USA" as of August 27, 2026.

https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2015/08/the-real-origins-of-word-ungawa-various.html

Those comments consists of visitor comments and my replies.

That post is still found in this pancocojams blog and that discussion thread is still open for additional comments.

I'm reprinting these comments to increase their visibility on the internet and to increase the visibility of that 2015 pancocojams post.

The content of this post is presented for historical and socio-cultural purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to all those commenters who I'm quoting in this post. More comments can still be added to that 2015 discussion thread and/or to this 2026 post.
-snip-
https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2023/06/childrens-examples-of-ah-beep-beep.html "Children's Examples Of "Ah Beep Beep Ungawa Black Power" And Similar Rhymes, Chants, & Cheers"

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COMMENTS FROM THAT 2015 PANCOCOJAMS POST

Jonathan HawkinsSeptember 22, 2016 at 11:26 PM
No comments? That's just weird because This is a great article. Folks chanted it at my high school in '67 and '68 often at basketball games. 'Hut Ungawa Shortridge got the (black) Power!
In Indianapolis.
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AnonymousDecember 3, 2016 at 3:17 PM
Great piece. The mostly black cheerleaders at my integrated LA high school in the very late 70s also sang a version like the ones above. I just looked up the word when I came upon it in Paul Beatty's novel The Sellout
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AnonymousNovember 12, 2017 at 11:53 PM
I was listening to Dizzy Gillespie's composition Ungawa tonight, which also made me think of Amiri Baraka chanting "Ungawa! Black Power!" on a NY Art Quartet album, which made me go online to do some research, and of course brought me to your blog and corresponds to your Newark experiences...
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AnonymousMarch 21, 2018 at 10:21 AM
Recollecting a chant from my southern Louisiana private high school in the early '70s led me to your excellent article:

"Bang, bang! Ungawa! 'Saders got the power!"

I had a black classmate; he may have been the only black student at that time.
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johnduelawMarch 25, 2018 at 5:28 AM
I will share this knowledge UM GAWA BLACK POWER is OK 50 years later in our Human Condition To Day. Be Smart. Black Lives Matter vs the Culture of Violence. Um GAWA.BLACK POWER
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EricMay 12, 2018 at 7:43 PM
Not to be confused with uNgawa, UMgawa is a made up word from the Johnny Weissmuller “Tarzan” movies made in the 1930’s. It was used in the movies as a word that could mean just about anything depending on the context it is said in. Given the lack of investigative resources from that timeframe, similarity to ungawa appears entirely coincidental.

Umgawa has also been used in the same “a word for any situation” with the University of Illinois Marching Ilini since the 1980’s (possibly earlier), usually as a response to commands from the band director e.g “Are you ready, Band?” or “Band, Dismissed!” followed by “Umgawa!” in unison. It can also be used as a form of greeting, celebration or recognition amongst band members and alumni.
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UnknownSeptember 18, 2018 at 9:21 PM
People in 1932 we're racist???
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AnonymousDecember 29, 2018 at 3:37 PM
This is a wonderful article! We watched Blackkklansman last night, and wondered what Ungawa meant, and Google brought me here.

I agree with you on what the meaning of Black Lives Matter and Black Power needs to be - add the "also" and "too". I even agree with "blue lives matter" ... BUT people need to recognize our current context. Between cops and blacks, the current power balance is so horrible, that whites must understand that the cops don't generally need any extra protection or benifit of doubt.

Back to Blackkklansman, I thought it was really interesting near the final scenes, where Spike Lee juxtaposed the scenes of people chanting Black Power and White Power.

(Minor spoiler) I also loved the joy it brought everyone when Ron Stallworth revealed who he really was, on the phone, to Duke.

I'm white, born in 1962, but I picked up a lot of the idealism and hope of those years. I am so upset at the regression we've had in public discourse in current times.

These attitudes have been festering all along ... I want to believe this is all a precursor to (esp. white) people realizing that we need to go even deeper than the gains made last century. One last quote from the movie (Frome Kwame Ture) - All power to all the people.

Thanks again for satisfying my curiousity, and showing how powerful language and ideas spread. Even when some folks like BJU don't recognize it! :-)

Kristi
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Mark BursteinJanuary 10, 2019 at 6:40 PM
In the spring of 1967, I recall a game my proto-hippie high-school friends and I played (we were mostly, but not all, white). We'd meet in Central Park (NYC) and would stand in a circle. One at a time, each of us would get up and go around the circle. If a boy met a girl, a girl met a boy, or a girl met a girl, they'd kiss. If a boy met a boy, they'd link arms and yell, "Ungawa!" (Yes, I know, sexist and silly, but we were kids.) I have no idea where this game came from. One day a pretty brunette and her male companion were walking by, watched us for a spell, and asked if they could join in. They did for a few rounds, and only when they were walking away did we acknowledge to each other that it was Joan Baez. (One of our "circle," music executive Danny Goldberg, wrote about it in his book "In Search of the Lost Chord" [Akashic Books, 2018, p. 166], but didn't mention the "Ungawa" factor.)
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Mark BursteinJanuary 10, 2019 at 7:01 PM
I don't suppose this story adds much to the canon, but it does show how universal that phrase was at the time.
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Mark BursteinJanuary 12, 2019 at 7:10 PM
Thank you, Azizi. Danny just referred to it as "a kissing game."
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AnonymousJuly 22, 2019 at 6:08 PM
I was searching for this chant, because I vaguely remember doing at chant at a (mostly white) northern Wisconsin Lutheran Bible camp called Lake Wapogasset in the late 80's early 90's. My head hurts, my back's too tight, my body moves from left to right, Ooh Umgawa, Jesus' got the power. How interesting no one ever really explained Umgawa/Ungawa - if my memory is correct!
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UnknownAugust 12, 2019 at 3:54 PM
I really enjoyed reading this it was very informative & straight forward clear defining the words ungawa & umgawa. Remember Tarzan using this term/terms for just about everything. Thank you for a very enlightening explanation/education. I wanted to know hunted it down I was lost but now I'm found so much Umgawa! Umgawa! now thanks to ungawa! ungawa! to know is power! Love Is Power! ~mjt~
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toubabSeptember 23, 2019 at 8:18 PM
My father, a sociology professor at an HBCU from the late 60s to the mid 70s, always uses ungawa to mean right on or power to the people. But growing up, I'd never heard anyone else using it. Then one night in high school in the mid-80s, I was watching a documentary film on local tv (in DC, so it was probably Howard's station WHUT) about the Civil Right movement, and they were describing the Miss Howard Pageant when the woman who won had a natural/afro for the first time and not processed hair. One of the voices described that the audience started shouting out, "Ungawa! Black Power!" I sat bolt upright because it was the first time I'd heard anyone besides my father use the term. I have no idea what documentary it was (Maybe it was Parting the Waters? I don't know).
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UnknownJune 28, 2020 at 8:24 PM
We used to cheer a similar chant at football games in 1972 In Marcus Hook PA
Ah we meet walkin down the street
Ten times a week
Ungawa black power
The story white boy,
I said it, I meant it, I really represent it.
Soul sister 69
Sock it to me one more time. Whoo!
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UnknownAugust 10, 2020 at 1:01 PM
A white friend from college wrote that when her power came back on she chanted "ungawa, ungawa, ___'s got the power" saying she remembered this as a high school chant of mine. Actually, it was a street chant we did as kids in the hood in NYC around 1968. Was really interesting to read hear about it, and want to add our verion. We either started with:
ah, beep beep
walkin' down the street
10 times a week
with your funky feet

OR we started with:

my dress too long, my belt's too tight
my booty shakes from left to right

either version ended with:

ungawa, black power
destroy, white boy
i said it, i meant it
i'm here to represent it
i'm soul sister number 9
sock it to me one more time

Someone elsewhere in this thread had said they never heard of these chants associated with double dutch, but in our neighborhood it was indeed often chanted during double dutch - or just marching down the street, snapping our fingers and with hand gestures to demonstrate the long dress then hands up to the 'tight belt' then swaying our bottoms back and forth rhythmically to demonstrate the 'booty shaking from left to right'. Tremendous fun, also a sense of solidarity and new sense of pride to be able to chant in unison "black power" but to those of us who were very young, part of the fun and games and thrill of being included with the group of older kids chanting with us.
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AnonymousAugust 25, 2020 at 11:57 PM
During 1971, us students were given a chant to recite while walking the corriders. We also had walk-outs demanding something for teachers. I recall mainly it got us out of class. Anyways, it went like this:
Ungawa, black-power,
Vikings are the best
beat-em in the chest
Watcha gonna do
Dance the boogaloo
M stands for man
D stands for dude
Us mother f....ers gonna sock it to you
Not sure of meaning, I just felt cool. I was an 80lb white, blonde curly haired, blue eye girl. Haha.
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AnonymousAugust 26, 2020 at 12:17 PM
I apologize for not using my name but i was unable to change old wrong email address. My name is Karen. The school was Forest Grove Jr. High (7th & 8th grades), Worcester, MA. We had a diverse group of students, rich, poor, black, white. Hispanics not so much back then. The "Vikings" I thought of the people, not a team. I also thought "sock it to you" was to hit. The Black Panthers were active and I associated the chant with this group. Thinking of myself as a "hippie" my attire was bells attached to my jean bell bottoms and cleats to the bottoms of my platform shoes. To say I was a spectacle is an understatement. LOL. I believe while walking the corriders chanting the entire MF phrase was partially said.

Also, I came across your blog by accident. I was responding to a fb comment on BLM, comparing the unrest/rioting, by uninformed young people just following without understanding, like when I chanted this back as a child. I didn't know the correct spelling of Ungawa and found you.
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AnonymousAugust 26, 2020 at 11:41 PM
I was 12 and 13 so yes, too young. Thank you for responding. I always enjoy speaking to our older generation. We're losing such valuable knowledge. I have no elders around as I age to ask questions. Thank you again. Karen
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theJanuary 5, 2021 at 10:42 PM
I found your page while researching William Peter Blatty's usage of the word in his 1965 novella "I, Billy Shakespeare" and since the text is rife with Shakespearean terms hoped that it emanated from him. Nos uch luck as yet though I did find a few interesting uses from the 19th and 20th centuries.

https://ibillyshakespeare.blogspot.com/p/ungawa.html
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bluepegasusFebruary 27, 2021 at 8:13 AM
It makes no sense that Tarzan would know or speak Swahili when according to the lore he lived in the African jungle which would place him somewhere in the Congo rainforest. It just goes to show that the Tarzan series was nothing but pure escapist pulp fantasy adventure based on dated western ideas of Africa as being "exotic" with very little effort to do actual research put into the series. I wonder if Tarzan were remade into the modern era and accompanied with appropriate research of the customs and people of the African continent what the series would look like today?

Ungawa may be a nonsense word but it's a wonderfully American word in that as a culture we always adapt to the circumstances, just like the word itself changed over time from the Tarzan films, to Black Power, to street rhyme, to high school chant. Its connotation with the civil rights struggle means that perhaps the time is right in the present to begin using it again as the struggle has been picking up an urgency not seen in quite a while over these past few years.
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DyspneadocMarch 20, 2021 at 8:35 AM
Well done, and thank you! I woke up this morning remembering a camp song you quoted and realizing it was rather perjorative. Thank you!
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JayNovember 4, 2021 at 7:48 PM
Ok, I may break this rather old blog, but I found it doing some other research. I grew up in Ocala (Silver Springs), where they filmed the old Tarzan movies. That jungle (complete with monkeys freed by a hurricane) was my back yard.

There was a story that the movie studio brought over some folk from Africa to film, help wrangle the animals and such. They called Johnny Weissmuller "um-gawa".

Johnny asked one of the translators what it meant, was it "chief" or "star" or something similar?

The translator laughed and said, while pointing "Do not step in elephant um-gawa!"
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Stephen KJuly 30, 2022 at 8:21 PM
The word is Japanese, and essentially means porch, or sun room. My guess is someone along the way misconstrued the word to mean fortress wall or something similar. See https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Engawa
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AnonymousSeptember 3, 2022 at 9:20 AM
After having posted online on poetry.com a poem called “Tarzan’s ‘Umgawa’ Burden,” out of sheer curiosity I searched the Internet to determine whether there were comments in the public domain concerning the history and use of that word and in the process stumbled on this website. How interesting — the morphing of a catch phrase to mean just almost anything for various audiences with various social interests. I ama poet and the expressive use of language is a fascinating subject.
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AnonymousSeptember 3, 2022 at 9:59 AM
Thanks Azizi. Like you, I’m a grandparent, as well as an octogenarian retired educator of Jamaican ancestry who happened to have attended Howard University in Washington, D.C. at the same time that civil rights activist Stokely Carmichael was in attendance there, and in fact was a dormitory colleague of his during the 1960s We met and knew each other as university colleagues. While the world knows Stokely best as a social activist, I knew him personally as a serious-minded college freshman and junior.
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heaven in hell cdaJune 4, 2023 at 10:11 AM
super blog!
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Azizi PowellJune 28, 2023 at 10:02 PM
Here's an article about Howard University students chanting "Ungawa Black Power" in 1966:
https://abernathymagazine.com/wakandan-black-panther-brings-nu-africa-mainstream/ " I am Wakandan: Black Panther brings ‘Nu Africa’ to the mainstream" by Joshua K. Wright, Ph.D
…”The highlight of the 1966 homecoming pageant at Howard University was the crowning of Robin Gregory as queen. Robin accepted her crown wearing an afro (or natural hairstyle) and traditional African attire. Students erupted in applause chanting “Ungawa. Black Power. Ungawa. Black Power”. A spirit of black power and Afrocentricity encompassed Howard’s campus in the late sixties."
-snip-
This article has no publishing date. However, this sentence in that article points to 2018 as its publishing date:
"Black Panther’s characterization of women is a far cry from what we found in Coming to America 30 years ago"
-snip-
The American movie Coming To American was first released in 1988.
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LopezJuly 15, 2023 at 4:24 AM
Curious article - entered by mistake, and i will stay a little be longer, peace
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AnonymousOctober 23, 2024 at 10:26 PM
Amazing context here and this word has evolved so far. For the record, urban legend, or at least Hollywood legend, is ungawa is a gibberish word made up for the Tarzan show in the 1940’s. The studio for this production was on Gower Street and thus “ongower” street became “ungawa” by a bunch of producers creating a made up language for the show. Pretty silly when you think about it.
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AnonymousMay 30, 2025 at 10:06 AM
I add this comment not because I'm proud of remembering this, but just to add to the variety of ways this word was used and because no one else seems to have mentioned how after the adoption of the word by black power movements, there was a kind of (somewhat) racist satirizing of those chants like "Ungawa, black power!..." The following chant was used by mostly white rural kids in my hometown in Missouri, late 70's, early 80's. I don't know where they got it or whether it's attested anywhere, but this would be a very interesting anthropological exercise to trace its origins:
"Unh! Ungawa! [insert name of younger kid you are bullying on the bus here] needs a shower!" (kid would get really mad)
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1. Azizi PowellMay 30, 2025 at 8:04 PM
  Hello, Anonymous May 30, 2025. Thanks for sharing your memory of kids using the word "ungawa" to taunt a younger kid. Thanks also for including demographic information.
  
  Obviously, bullying kids is never good, but I'm glad we have this example for the folkloric record.
  
  Best wishes!
  
  ****
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Comments From The Discussion Thread For The 2015 Pancocojams Post "The REAL Origin Of The Word "Ungawa" & Various Ways That Word Has Been Used In The USA"