The History Of The Gospel Song "I'll Overcome Someday" And The Civil Rights Song "We Shall Overcome" (information and videos)

Genie Deez, Jun 15, 2020

We Shall Overcome became the anthem for the Civil Rights Movement, thanks in part to the movement leaders, and thanks in part to artists and folk signers like Bob Dylan and Pete Seeger. But the roots of the song go way back to the Civil War and slavery.

Maybe the most poignant thing about the evolution of We Shall Overcome is that there’s been a NEED for it to evolve. From the beginning, black music has always been about acknowledging oppression while hoping for a better future. That’s a paradox. That’s why the clip of Fountain Hughes is so inspiring and heartbreaking at the same time.  

So the next time you hear this song, and I hope we don’t need any more versions of it, just know that it’s invoking the memory and traditions of some of America’s greatest fighters. People like Pete Seeger, Mahalia Jackson, Charles Tindley, Fountain Hughes, Union Soldiers, and perhaps even the first generations of born African American slaves. It’s powerful stuff. But it’s music, and music is powerful.

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Edited by Azizi Powell

This pancocojams post presents information about the Civil Rights song "We Shall Overcome". This post also showcases videos of that song.

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

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to the unknown composer/s of "We Shall Overcome" and thanks to all those who are quoted in this post. Thanks also to the publishers of the YouTube videos that are showcased in this post.
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Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2017/01/the-we-shall-overcome-civil-rights-song.html for the closely related 2017 pancocojams post entitled "The "We Shall Overcome" Civil Rights Song & Its Linked Arms/ Hands Held Stance".

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE CIVIL RIGHTS SONG "WE SHALL OVERCOME"
From https://www.kennedy-center.org/education/resources-for-educators/classroom-resources/media-and-interactives "We Shall Overcome: The story behind the song" by Kenny Neal, January 31, 2022 

How a song helped steel the courage of Black Americans as they struggled to surmount the barriers to civil rights.

... “We Shall Overcome” has a long history with input from many people and places. Part of the melody seems to be related to two European songs from the 1700s, “Prayer of the Sicilian Mariners” and “O Sanctissima.” Enslaved Black people in the U.S. mixed and matched similar tunes in the songs “I’ll Be All Right” and “No More Auction Block For Me.”

After 1900, it seems the lyrics of another gospel song, “I’ll Overcome Someday” by the Methodist minister and composer Reverend Dr. Charles Tindley, were added to the musical mix—though the music was very different. Around 1945, gospel arrangers Atron Twigg and Kenneth Morris apparently put together the essential pieces of the now-famous words and melody.

“We’ll Overcome” first appeared as a protest song during a 1945–1946 labor strike against American Tobacco in Charleston, South Carolina. African American women strikers seeking a pay raise to 30 cents an hour sang as they picketed. “I Will Overcome” was a favorite song of Lucille Simmons, one of the strikers. But she gave the song a powerful sense of solidarity by changing the “I” into “We” as they sang together. Other lyrics were improvised for pro-union purposes, including “We will organize,” “We will win our rights,” and “We will win this fight.”

In 1947, Simmons brought the song to Highlander Folk School and shared it with other labor activists there. Zilphia Horton, head of the school’s cultural program, learned it and later taught it to Pete Seeger. At some point, the nationally known folk singer revised the lyrics “We will” to “We shall.”

 “We Shall Overcome” proved easy to learn and sing at different types of civil rights protests, such as sit-ins, marches, and huge rallies. “It’s the genius of simplicity,” Seeger said about the song in a later interview. “Any…fool can get complicated.”

 The song spread rapidly as the Civil Rights Movement gained momentum. Protesters sang it as they marched for voting rights. They also sang it as they were beat up, attacked by police dogs, and hauled off to jail for breaking laws enforcing segregation. News and pictures of brutality shocked people across the U.S. and around the world.

[…]

“We Shall Overcome” and other protest songs provided the soundtrack to the Civil Rights Movement. The period saw the U.S. confront one of the most complex and controversial issues in its history—race relations. Finally, the U.S. promised a measure of equality for its Black citizens."...
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The sentence "After 1900, it seems the lyrics of another gospel song, “I’ll Overcome Someday” by the Methodist minister and composer Reverend Dr. Charles Tindley, were added to the musical mix—though the music was very different" could be read to mean that Rev. Alfred Tindley's Gospel song "I'll Overcome Someday" was composed after the song "We Shall Overcome." However, that's incorrect. Rev. Tindley's song was composed BEFORE the song "We Shall Overcome".

Here's an Al Overview write-up that is the result of my question "Which song was composed first: The Gospel song "I'll Overcome Someday" or the song "We Shall Overcome" [asked October 22, 2025]
"The religious song "I'll Overcome Someday" came first, published by Rev. Charles Albert Tindley in 1901. The song "We Shall Overcome" evolved from this hymn and a traditional gospel tune, gaining its modern form during labor strikes in the 1940s.

"I'll Overcome Someday": This gospel hymn by Rev. Charles Albert Tindley was published in 1901 and was originally based on the refrain "I'll be all right someday" sung by slaves.

"We Shall Overcome": The song was adapted to the plural "We" and used by striking tobacco workers in Charleston, South Carolina, around 1945. It was further popularized and developed by Zilphia Horton and later by Pete Seeger, becoming the anthem of the Civil Rights movement."

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SHOWCASE VIDEO #2 - I Will Overcome Someday

Yair Zameret, Oct 1, 2009

Charles Albert Tindley Gospel "I'll Overcome Someday".  Singer: Carolyn Disnew-Zameret.  All pictures are of Afro-American slaves and ex-slaves
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The referent "Afro-American" is considered to be outdated and has been replaced by the referent "African American".

Also, "enslaved African Americans" or "enslaved Black Americans" are preferred nowadays instead of the words "African American slaves" or "Black American slaves". 

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SHOWCASE VIDEO #3 - Ensemble We Shall Overcome

Jong Paik, Aug 13, 2009

Pete Seeger 90th Birthday

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THE LAWSUIT THAT RETURNED "WE SHALL OVERCOME TO THE PUBLIC DOMAIN"



Newsy Published on Apr 14, 2016

The Library of Congress calls "We Shall Overcome" "the most powerful song of the 20th century," and now one group is claiming that the song should be owned by everyone.

Transcript:
"Deep in my heart, I do believe, we shall overcome someday," Joan Baez sings.
The Library of Congress calls "We Shall Overcome" "the most powerful song of the 20th century," and now one group is claiming that the song should be owned by everyone.

The We Shall Overcome Foundation filed a lawsuit challenging the copyright of the song that's in the title of the organization, saying the song is "dedicated to public use and in the public domain."

Ludlow Music Inc., an imprint of The Richmond Organization, claims to have registered that copyright in 1960. But the lawsuit asserts it was never really Ludlow Music's to begin with.

"We Shall Overcome" contains lyrics similar to an African-American spiritual. One of the first printed versions of the song appeared in the United Mine Workers Journal in 1909.

That was later corroborated by folk singer Pete Seeger.
"It said we started every meeting with a prayer and singing that good ol' song, 'We Will Overcome,'" Seeger said in an interview with Pacifica Radio.

Seeger had also published the song in a newsletter intended to "create, promote and distribute songs of labor and the American people."

Some are comparing this lawsuit to another one centered on another popular song. Interestingly enough, the lawyers who worked to get "Happy Birthday" in the public domain are doing the same with "We Shall Overcome."
Along with the song being placed in the public domain, the "We Shall Overcome" lawsuit asks for Ludlow Music to return licensing fees it has collected from the song — which could be in the millions."..
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After revisiting this pancocojams post on October 22, 2025, I asked Google search (AI Overview) what was the result of this lawsuit. Here's that write-up:

"AI Overview

The lawsuit against Ludlow Music for copyright of "We Shall Overcome" resulted in a settlement that put the civil rights anthem into the public domain, ending copyright claims on the song's melody and lyrics. Ludlow Music and other publishers agreed to the public domain dedication after a court ruled that the song's most famous verse lacked the originality for copyright protection. As a result, Ludlow had to refund licensing fees it had charged and was ordered to pay over $350,000 in legal fees to the plaintiffs.

Public Domain: Ludlow Music and other defendants agreed to a settlement that dedicates the melody and lyrics of "We Shall Overcome" to the public domain. This decision was influenced by a court ruling that the first verse was not sufficiently original to be copyrighted.

Court Ruling: In September 2017, a federal judge ruled that the changes made to the original song were trivial and not original enough to qualify for a new copyright.
Settlement Details: In January 2018, the parties settled the case, with Ludlow agreeing to refund fees it had charged and the song being declared public domain.

Legal Fees: The court awarded the plaintiffs $352,000 in attorneys' fees and costs, noting that the lawsuit helped make the song accessible to the public. "

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