Professor presents history of 'We Shall Overcome'

 

Gonzaga University music professor Jadrian Tarver explained the background of "We Shall Overcome," pointing out that its creation was a communal effort and it was developed over many years.

Jadrian, who teaches a freshman seminar Music and Social Justice on spirituals, raps and different genres of Black music, introduced the history of "We Shall Overcome" as "a song of justice, healing and collective experience with multiple composers."

It emerged from a 19th century spiritual about endurance, "I'll Overcome Someday," first published in 1901 by Charles Albert Tindley, a Methodist minister and hymn writer. Much of the text comes from that song of faith and hope.

"In 1945 in Charleston, S.C., striking black and white men and women tobacco workers adopted that song, changing its pronouns from individual to collective and its purpose as a tool for organizing and solidarity," Jadrian said.

"The song we know was birthed out of this strike," he said.

Zilphia Horton, music director at Highlander Folk School, popularized it in activist circles. Guy Carawan introduced it to the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) organizers in 1960, and Pete Seeger standardized the lyrics and spread it nationally through performances and recordings.

The words shifted from "we will" to "we shall" overcome.

"The Freedom Singers sang it with SNCC and Dr. King heard it when visiting the Highlander Folk School. He believed it could be an anthem for the movement.

"The Black women musicians were often overlooked in telling the story," Jadrian said. "When we talk of resilience and reconciliation, it's time to recognize the influence of Black women in the structure of 'We Shall Overcome." Lucille Simmons, who helped lead the 1945 strike, used gospel songs and spirituals. At the folk school, Zilphia taught it to students.

"We Shall Overcome" belongs to everyone, Jadrian said.

Roberta Martin, gospel singer and composer, published it as Faye Brown, with the text, "I'll be like him some day, if in my heart, I do not yield." Jadrian played the tune that is the chorus.

"We need to pay homage to all who are part of this song," he added.

Jadrian said today's song came from 1956, when gospel songwriter Louise Shropshire, a friend of Dr. King, used the tune in her song, "If My Jesus Wills, I'll Overcome Someday."

While she believed music created for solace and healing should be used freely without financial barriers, in 1960, Zilphia, Guy, Pete and Frank Hamilton copyrighted "We Shall Overcome" as a derivative work.

Jadrian said they acknowledged they did not compose the original song but cited their arrangement, phrasing and lyrics as new elements added to a traditional song.

"As a community-created song entered an ownership-based legal system, there were tensions between legal authorship and cultural stewardship. The law required naming individuals even when creation was collective," Jadrian said.

Pete and Guy were trying to preserve it, not own it. Any proceeds from the song go to the We Shall Overcome Foundation for use to fund grassroots efforts.

Jadrian said "We Shall Overcome" became the moral anthem of sit-ins, jailings, funerals and voter drives. It was embraced by SNCC and sung at marches by Dr. King.

"Music as restorative justice recognizes the people who helped create the song," he said. "It is about sharing songs that create mutual support, soothe people in trauma and restore dignity when systems deny it.

"Music creates shared humanity and allows collective grief and hope," he said. "Justice begins when voices are heard."

Jadrian added that the song is "a promise carried forward, sung from Charleston to Johannesburg, from Selma to Hong Kong for anti-apartheid, democracy, racial justice, labor and LGBTQ+ movements, protests and advocacy.

"It is part of the fabric of America," he added. "I see it as one of the stitches for the quilters that keep the fabric of justice together here in America.

"As it appears to unravel, we can mend, sew, bond, glue, hot glue, super glue or duct tape it back together," he affirmed.

To watch the video of the Music as Advocacy workshop, click here.