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1. Hum Honge Kamyab Lyrics In Hindi
2. Hum Honge Kamyab Lyrics

Jan 29, 2016 - Lyrics for Hum Honge Kamyaab by Satish Bhatia. Honge kamyab honge kamyab honge kamyab ek din oh.maan meh hai viswas pura hai.

'We Shall Overcome' is a gospel song which became a protest song and a key anthem of the Civil Rights Movement. The song is most commonly attributed as being lyrically descended from 'I'll Overcome Some Day', a hymn by Charles Albert Tindley that was first published in 1900.^[1][2]

The modern version of the song was first said to have been sung by tobacco workers led by Lucille Simmons during a 1945 cigar workers strike in Charleston, South Carolina. In 1947, the song was published under the title 'We Will Overcome' in an edition of the People's Songs Bulletin (a publication of People's Songs, an organization of which Pete Seeger was the director), as a contribution of and with an introduction by Zilphia Horton, then-music director of the Highlander Folk School of Monteagle, Tennessee (an adult education school that trained union organizers). Horton said she had learned the song from Simmons, and she considered it to be her favorite song. She taught it to many others, including Pete Seeger,^[3] who included it in his repertoire, as did many other activist singers, such as Frank Hamilton and Joe Glazer, who recorded it in 1950.

The song became associated with the Civil Rights Movement from 1959, when Guy Carawan stepped in with his and Seeger's version as song leader at Highlander, which was then focused on nonviolent civil rights activism. It quickly became the movement's unofficial anthem. Seeger and other famous folksingers in the early 1960s, such as Joan Baez, sang the song at rallies, folk festivals, and concerts in the North and helped make it widely known. Since its rise to prominence, the song, and songs based on it, have been used in a variety of protests worldwide.

The U.S. copyright of the People's Songs Bulletin issue which contained 'We Will Overcome' expired in 1976, but The Richmond Organization asserted a copyright on the 'We Shall Overcome' lyrics, registered in 1960. In 2017, in response to a lawsuit against TRO over allegations of false copyright claims, a U.S. judge issued an opinion that the registered work was insufficiently different from the 'We Will Overcome' lyrics that had fallen into the public domain because of non-renewal. In January 2018, the company agreed to a settlement under which it would no longer assert any copyright claims over the song.

Origins as a gospel, folk, and labor song[edit]

'I'll Overcome Some Day' was a hymn or gospel music composition by the Reverend Charles Albert Tindley of Philadelphia that was first published in 1900.^[4] A noted minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church, Tindley was the author of approximately 50 gospel hymns, of which 'We'll Understand It By and By' and 'Stand By Me' are among the best known. The published text bore the epigraph, 'Ye shall overcome if ye faint not', derived from Galatians 6:9: 'And let us not be weary in doing good, for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.' The first stanza began:

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 were written in an idiom rooted in African American folk traditions, using pentatonic intervals, with ample space allowed for improvised interpolation, the addition of 'blue' thirds and sevenths, and frequently featuring short refrains in which the congregation could join.^[5] Tindley's importance, however, was primarily as a lyricist and poet whose words spoke directly to the feelings of his audiences, many of whom had been freed from slavery only 36 years before he first published his songs, and were often impoverished, illiterate, and newly arrived in the North.^[6] 'Even today,' wrote musicologist Horace Boyer in 1983, 'ministers quote his texts in the midst of their sermons as if they were poems, as indeed they are.'^[7]

A letter printed on the front page of the February 1909, United Mine Workers Journal states: 'Last year at a strike, we opened every meeting with a prayer, and singing that good old song, 'We Will Overcome'.' This statement implied that the song was well-known, and it was also the first acknowledgement of such a song having been sung in both a secular context and a mixed-race setting.^[8][9][10]

Tindley's 'I'll Overcome Some Day' was believed to have influenced the structure for 'We Shall Overcome',^[8] with both the text and the melody having undergone a process of alteration. The tune has been changed so that it now echoes the opening and closing melody of 'No More Auction Block For Me',^[11] also known from its refrain as 'Many Thousands Gone'.^[12] This was number 35 in Thomas Wentworth Higginson's collection of Negro Spirituals that appeared in the Atlantic Monthly of June 1867, with a comment by Higginson reflecting on how such songs were composed (i.e., whether the work of a single author or through what used to be called 'communal composition'):

Even of this last composition, however, we have only the approximate date and know nothing of the mode of composition. Allan Ramsay says of the Scots Songs, that, no matter who made them, they were soon attributed to the minister of the parish whence they sprang. And I always wondered, about these, whether they had always a conscious and definite origin in some leading mind, or whether they grew by gradual accretion, in an almost unconscious way. On this point I could get no information, though I asked many questions, until at last, one day when I was being rowed across from Beaufort to Ladies' Island, I found myself, with delight, on the actual trail of a song. One of the oarsmen, a brisk young fellow, not a soldier, on being asked for his theory of the matter, dropped out a coy confession. 'Some good spirituals,' he said, 'are start jess out o' curiosity. I been a-raise a sing, myself, once.'

My dream was fulfilled, and I had traced out, not the poem alone, but the poet. I implored him to proceed.

'Once we boys,' he said, 'went for to tote some rice, and de nigger-driver, he keep a-callin' on us; and I say, 'O, de ole nigger-driver!' Den another said, 'First thing my mammy told me was, notin' so bad as a nigger-driver.' Den I made a sing, just puttin' a word, and den another word.'

Then he began singing, and the men, after listening a moment, joined in the chorus as if it were an old acquaintance, though they evidently had never heard it before. I saw how easily a new 'sing' took root among them.^[13]

Coincidentally, Bob Dylan claims that he used the very same melodic motif from 'No More Auction Block' for his composition, 'Blowin' in the Wind'.^[14] Thus similarities of melodic and rhythmic patterns imparted cultural and emotional resonance ('the same feeling') towards three different, and historically very significant songs.

Music scholars have also pointed out that the first half of 'We Shall Overcome' bears a notable resemblance to the famous lay Catholic hymn 'O Sanctissima', also known as 'The Sicilian Mariners Hymn', first published by a London magazine in 1792 and then by an American magazine in 1794 and widely circulated in American hymnals.^{[15][16][17][18][19]} The second half of 'We Shall Overcome' is essentially the same music as the 19th-century hymn 'I'll Be All Right'.^[20] As Victor Bobetsky summarized in his 2015 book on the subject: 'We Shall Overcome' owes its existence to many ancestors and to the constant change and adaptation that is typical of the folk music process.'^[15]

Role of the Highlander Folk School[edit]

In October 1945 in Charleston, South Carolina, members of the Food, Tobacco, Agricultural, and Allied Workers union (FTA-CIO), who were mostly female and African American, began a five-month strike against the American Tobacco Company. To keep up their spirits during the cold, wet winter of 1945–1946, one of the strikers, a woman named Lucille Simmons, led a slow 'long meter style' version of the gospel hymn, 'We'll Overcome (I'll Be All Right)' to end each day's picketing. Union organizer Zilphia Horton, who was the wife of the co-founder of the Highlander Folk School (later Highlander Research and Education Center), said she learned it from Simmons. Horton was Highlander's music director during 1935–1956, and it became her custom to end group meetings each evening by leading this, her favorite song. During the presidential campaign of Henry A. Wallace, 'We Will Overcome' was printed in Bulletin No. 3 (September 1948), 8, of People's Songs, with an introduction by Horton saying that she had learned it from the interracial FTA-CIO workers and had found it to be extremely powerful. Pete Seeger, a founding member of People's Songs and its director for three years, learned it from Horton's version in 1947.^[21] Seeger writes: 'I changed it to 'We shall'.. I think I liked a more open sound; 'We will' has alliteration to it, but 'We shall' opens the mouth wider; the 'i' in 'will' is not an easy vowel to sing well ..'^[3] Seeger also added some verses ('We'll walk hand in hand' and 'The whole wide world around').

In 1950, the CIO's Department of Education and Research released the album, Eight New Songs for Labor, sung by Joe Glazer ('Labor's Troubador'), and the Elm City Four. (Songs on the album were: 'I Ain't No Stranger Now,' 'Too Old to Work,' 'That's All,' 'Humblin' Back,' 'Shine on Me,' 'Great Day,' 'The Mill Was Made of Marble,' and 'We Will Overcome'.) During a Southern CIO drive, Glazer taught the song to country singer Texas Bill Strength, who cut a version that was later picked up by 4-Star Records.^[22]

The song made its first recorded appearance as 'We Shall Overcome' (rather than 'We Will Overcome') in 1952 on a disc recorded by Laura Duncan (soloist) and The Jewish Young Singers (chorus), conducted by Robert De Cormier, co-produced by Ernie Lieberman and Irwin Silber on Hootenany Records (Hoot 104-A) (Folkways, FN 2513, BCD15720), where it is identified as a Negro Spiritual.

Frank Hamilton, a folk singer from California who was a member of People's Songs and later The Weavers, picked up Seeger's version. Hamilton's friend and traveling companion, fellow-Californian Guy Carawan, learned the song from Hamilton. Carawan and Hamilton, accompanied by Ramblin Jack Elliot, visited Highlander in the early 1950s where they also would have heard Zilphia Horton sing the song. In 1957, Seeger sang for a Highlander audience that included Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who remarked on the way to his next stop, in Kentucky, about how much the song had stuck with him. When, in 1959, Guy Carawan succeeded Horton as music director at Highlander, he reintroduced it at the school. It was the young (many of them teenagers) student-activists at Highlander, however, who gave the song the words and rhythms for which it is currently known, when they sang it to keep their spirits up during the frightening police raids on Highlander and their subsequent stays in jail in 1959–1960. Because of this, Carawan has been reluctant to claim credit for the song's widespread popularity. In the PBS video We Shall Overcome, Julian Bond credits Carawan with teaching and singing the song at the founding meeting of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee in Raleigh, North Carolina, in 1960. From there, it spread orally and became an anthem of Southern African American labor union and civil rights activism.^[23] Seeger has also publicly, in concert, credited Carawan with the primary role of teaching and popularizing the song within the Civil Rights Movement.

Hum Honge Kamyab Lyrics In Hindi

Use in the 1960s civil rights and other protest movements[edit]

In August 1963, 22-year old folksinger Joan Baez, led a crowd of 300,000 in singing 'We Shall Overcome' at the Lincoln Memorial during A. Philip Randolph's March on Washington. President Lyndon Johnson, himself a Southerner, used the phrase 'we shall overcome' in addressing Congress on March 15, 1965,^[24] in a speech delivered after the violent 'Bloody Sunday' attacks on civil rights demonstrators during the Selma to Montgomery marches, thus legitimizing the protest movement.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. recited the words from 'We Shall Overcome' in his final sermon delivered in Memphis on Sunday, March 31, 1968, before his assassination.^[25] He had done so in a similar sermon delivered in 1965 before an interfaith congregation at Temple Israel in Hollywood, California:^[26]

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^[27]

'We Shall Overcome' was sung days later by over fifty thousand attendees at Dr. King's funeral.^[28]

Farmworkers in the United States later sang the song in Spanish during the strikes and grape boycotts of the late 1960s.^[29] The song was notably sung by the U.S.Senator for New YorkRobert F. Kennedy, when he led anti-Apartheid crowds in choruses from the rooftop of his car while touring South Africa in 1966.^[30] It was also the song which Abie Nathan chose to broadcast as the anthem of the Voice of Peace radio station on October 1, 1993, and as a result it found its way back to South Africa in the later years of the Anti-Apartheid Movement.^[31]

The Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association adopted 'we shall overcome' as a slogan and used it in the title of its retrospective publication, We Shall Overcome – The History of the Struggle for Civil Rights in Northern Ireland 1968–1978.^[32][33] The film Bloody Sunday depicts march leader and MPIvan Cooper leading the song shortly before 1972's Bloody Sunday shootings. In 1997, the Christian men's ministry, Promise Keepers featured the song on its worship CD for that year: The Making of a Godly Man, featuring worship leader Donn Thomas and the Maranatha! Promise Band. Bruce Springsteen's re-interpretation of the song was included on the 1998 tribute album Where Have All the Flowers Gone: The Songs of Pete Seeger as well as on Springsteen's 2006 album We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions.

Widespread adaptation[edit]

'We Shall Overcome' was adopted by various labor, nationalist, and political movements both during and after the Cold War. In his memoir about his years teaching English in Czechoslovakia after the Velvet Revolution, Mark Allen wrote:

In Prague in 1989, during the intense weeks of the Velvet Revolution, hundreds of thousands of people sang this haunting music in unison in Wenceslas Square, both in English and in Czech, with special emphasis on the phrase 'I do believe.' This song's message of hope gave protesters strength to carry on until the powers-that-be themselves finally gave up hope themselves.In the Prague of 1964, Seeger was stunned to find himself being whistled and booed by crowds of Czechs when he spoke out against the Vietnam War. But those same crowds had loved and adopted his rendition of 'We Shall Overcome.' History is full of such ironies – if only you are willing to see them.

The melody was also used (crediting it to Tindley) in a symphony by American composer William Rowland.^{[citation needed]} In 1999, National Public Radio included 'We Shall Overcome' on the 'NPR 100' list of most important American songs of the 20th century.^[34] As a reference to the line, on January 20, 2009, after the inauguration of Barack Obama as the 44th President of the United States, a man holding the banner, 'WE HAVE OVERCOME' was seen near the Capitol, a day after hundreds of people posed with the sign on Martin Luther King Jr. day.^[35]

As the attempted serial killer 'Lasermannen' shot several immigrants around Stockholm in 1992, Prime Minister Carl Bildt and Immigration Minister Birgit Friggebo attended a meeting in Rinkeby. As the audience became upset, Friggebo tried to calm them down by proposing that everyone sing 'We Shall Overcome.' This statement is widely regarded as one of the most embarrassing moments in Swedish politics. In 2008, the newspaper Svenska Dagbladet listed the Sveriges Television recording of the event as the best political clip available on YouTube.^[36]

On June 7, 2010, Roger Waters of Pink Floyd fame, released a new version of the song as a protest against the Israeli blockade of Gaza.^[37]

On July 22, 2012, Bruce Springsteen performed the song during the memorial-concert in Oslo after the terrorist attacks in Norway on July 22, 2011.

In India, the renowned poet Girija Kumar Mathur composed its literal translation in Hindi 'Hum Honge Kaamyab (हम होगें कामयाब)' which became a popular patriotic/spiritual song during the 1970s and 80s, particularly in schools.^[38]

In Bengali-speaking India and Bangladesh, there are two versions, both of which are popular among school-children and political activists. 'Amra Korbo Joy' (আমরা করবো জয়, a literal translation) was translated by the Bengali folk singer Hemanga Biswas and re-recorded by Bhupen Hazarika. Another version, translated by Shibdas Bandyopadhyay, 'Ek Din Shurjer Bhor' (এক দিন সূর্যের ভোর, literally translated as 'One Day The Sun Will Rise') was recorded by the Calcutta Youth Choir and arranged by Ruma Guha Thakurta during the 1971 Bangladesh War of Independence and it became one of the largest selling Bengali records. It was a favorite of Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and it was regularly sung at public events after Bangladesh gained its independence in the early 1970s.^{[citation needed]}

In the Indian State of Kerala, the traditional Communist stronghold, the song became popular on college campuses during the late 1970s. It was the struggle song of the Students Federation of India SFI, the largest student organisation in the country. The song translated to the regional language Malayalam by N. P. Chandrasekharan, an activist for SFI. The translation followed the same tune of the original song, as 'Nammal Vijayikkum'. Later it was also published in Student, the monthly of SFI in Malayalam as well as in Sarvadesheeya Ganangal (Mythri Books, Thiruvananthapuram), a translation of international struggle songs.

'We Shall Overcome' was a prominent song in the 2010 Bollywood filmMy Name is Khan, which compared the struggle of Muslims in modern America with the struggles of African Americans in the past. The song was sung in both English and Urdu in the film, which starred Kajol and Shahrukh Khan.

Copyright status[edit]

The copyright status of 'We Shall Overcome' was disputed in the late-2010s. A copyright registration was made for the song in 1960, which is credited as an arrangement by Zilphia Horton, Guy Carawan, Frank Hamilton, and Pete Seeger, of a work entitled 'I'll Overcome', with no known original author.^[8] Horton's heirs, Carawan, Hamilton, and Seeger share the artists' half of the rights, and The Richmond Organization (TRO), which includes Ludlow Music, Essex, Folkways Music, and Hollis Music, holds the publishers' rights, to 50% of the royalty earnings. Seeger explained that he registered the copyright under the advice of TRO, who showed concern that someone else could register it. 'At that time we didn't know Lucille Simmons' name', Seeger said.^[39] Their royalties go to the 'We Shall Overcome' Fund, administered by Highlander under the trusteeship of the 'writers'. Such funds are purportedly used to give small grants for cultural expression involving African Americans organizing in the U.S. South.^[40]

In April 2016, the We Shall Overcome Foundation (WSOF), led by music producer Isaias Gamboa, sued TRO and Ludlow, seeking to have the copyright status of the song clarified and the return of all royalties collected by the companies from its usage. The WSOF, which was working on a documentary about the song and its history, were denied permission to use the song by TRO-Ludlow. The filing argued that TRO-Ludlow's copyright claims were invalid because the registered copyright had not been renewed as required by United States copyright law at the time; because of this, the copyright of the 1948 People's Songs publication containing 'We Will Overcome' had expired in 1976. Additionally, it was argued that the registered copyrights only covered specific arrangements of the tune and 'obscure alternate verses', that the registered works 'did not contain original works of authorship, except to the extent of the arrangements themselves', and that no record of a work entitled 'I'll Overcome' existed in the database of the United States Copyright Office.^[8]

The suit acknowledged that Seeger himself had not claimed to be an author of the song, stating of the song in his autobiography, 'No one is certain who changed 'will' to 'shall.' It could have been me with my Harvard education. But Septima Clarke, a Charleston schoolteacher (who was director of education at Highlander and after the Civil Rights Movement was elected year after year to the Charleston, S.C. Board of Education) always preferred 'shall.' It sings better.' He also reaffirmed that the decision to copyright the song was a defensive measure, with his publisher apparently warning him that 'if you don't copyright this now, some Hollywood types will have a version out next year like 'Come on Baby, We shall overcome tonight'. Furthermore, the liner notes of Seeger's compilation album If I Had a Hammer: Songs of Hope & Struggle contained a summary on the purported history of the song, stating that 'We Shall Overcome' was 'probably adapted from the 19th-century hymn, 'I'll Be All Right', and that 'I'll Overcome Some Day' was a 'possible source' and may have originally been adapted from 'I'll Be All Right'.^[41]

Gamboa has historically shown interest in investigating the origins of 'We Shall Overcome';^[8] in a book entitled We Shall Overcome: Sacred Song On The Devil's Tongue, he notably disputed the song's claimed origins and copyright registration with an alternate theory, suggesting that 'We Shall Overcome' was actually derived from 'If My Jesus Wills', a hymn by Louise Shropshire that had been composed in the 1930s and had its copyright registered in 1954.^[42][43] The WSOF lawsuit did not invoke this alternate history, focusing instead on the original belief that the song stemmed from 'We Will Overcome'.^[8][41] The lawyer backing Gamboa's suit, Mark C. Rifkin, was previously involved in a case that invalidated copyright claims over the song 'Happy Birthday to You'.^[44]

On September 8, 2017, Judge Denise Cote of the Southern District of New York issued an opinion that there were insufficient differences between the first verse of the 'We Shall Overcome' lyrics registered by TRO-Ludlow, and the 'We Will Overcome' lyrics from People's Songs (specifically, the aforementioned replacement of 'will' with 'shall', and changing 'down in my heart' to 'deep in my heart') for it to qualify as a distinct derivative work eligible for its own copyright.^[45][46]

On January 26, 2018, TRO-Ludlow agreed to a final settlement, under which it would accept the district court's opinion that it did not own a valid copyright to the melody and first verse of 'We Shall Overcome', and that it would no longer assert any of its copyright claims to the remaining verses of the song.^[47][48]

See also[edit]

Notes[edit]

1. ^Bobetsky, Victor (2014). 'The complex ancestry of 'We Shall Overcome''. Choral Journal. 57: 26–36.
2. ^Lynskey, Dorian (2011). 33 revolutions per minute. London, UK: Faber & Faber. p. 33. ISBN978-0061670152.
3. ^ ^abSeeger, Pete (1997). Where Have All The Flowers Gone – A Musical Autobiography. Bethlehem, PA: Sing Out. ISBN1881322106.
4. ^Tindley, C. Albert (1900). 'I'll Overcome Some Day'. New Songs of the Gospel. Philadelphia: Hall-Mack Co.
5. ^Horace Clarence Boyer, 'Charles Albert Tindley: Progenitor of Black-American Gospel Music', The Black Perspective in Music 11: No. 2 (Autumn, 1983), pp. 103–132.
6. ^Boyer, [1983], p. 113. 'Tindley was a composer for whom the lyrics constituted its major element; while the melody and were handled with care, these elements were regarded as subservient to the text.'
7. ^Boyer (1983), p. 113.
8. ^ ^abcdefGraham, David A. 'Who Owns 'We Shall Overcome'?'. The Atlantic. Retrieved 13 July 2016.
9. ^'Lawyers who won Happy Birthday copyright case sue over 'We Shall Overcome''. Ars Technica. Retrieved 13 July 2016.
10. ^The United Mine Workers was racially integrated from its founding and was notable for having a large black presence, particularly in Alabama and West Virginia. The Alabama branch, whose membership was three quarters black, in particular, met with fierce, racially based resistance during a strike in 1908 and was crushed. See Daniel Letwin, 'Interracial Unionism, Gender, and Social Equality in the Alabama Coalfields, 1878–1908', The Journal of Southern History LXI: 3 (August 1955): 519–554.
11. ^James Fuld tentatively attributes the change to the version by Atron Twigg and Kenneth Morris. See James J. Fuld, The Book of World-Famous Music: Classical, Popular, and Folk (noted by Wallace and Wallechinsky)1966; New York: Dover, 1995). According to Alan Lomax's The Folk Songs of North America, 'No More Auction Block For Me' originated in Canada and it was sung by former slaves who fled there after Britain abolished slavery in 1833.
12. ^Eileen Southern, The Music of Black Americans: A History, Second Edition (Norton, 1971): 546-47, 159-60.
13. ^Higginson, Thomas Wentworth (June 1867). 'Negro Spirituals'. The Atlantic Monthly. 19 (116): 685–694.
14. ^From the sleeve notes to Bob Dylan's 'Bootleg Series Volumes 1-3' - '..it was Pete Seeger who first identified Dylan's adaptation of the melody of this song ['No More Auction Block'] for the composition of 'Blowin' in the Wind'. Indeed, Dylan himself was to admit the debt in 1978, when he told journalist Marc Rowland: 'Blowin' in the Wind' has always been a spiritual. I took it off a song called 'No More Auction Block' - that's a spiritual, and 'Blowin' in the Wind sorta follows the same feeling..'
15. ^ ^abBobetsky, Victor V. (2015). We Shall Overcome: Essays on a Great American Song. pp. 1–13. Retrieved October 18, 2016.
16. ^Seward, William (November 1792). 'Drossiana. Number XXXVIII. The Sicilian Mariner's Hymn to the Virgin'. European Magazine. 22 (5): 342, 385–386. Retrieved October 26, 2016.
17. ^Shaw, Robert, ed. (May 1794). 'Prayer of the Sicilian Mariners'. The Gentleman's Amusement: 25. Retrieved October 26, 2016.
18. ^Brink, Emily; Polman, Bert, eds. (1988). The Psalter Hymnal Handbook. Retrieved October 18, 2016.
19. ^Wallechinsky, David; Wallace, Irving, eds. (1978). The People's Almanac #2. pp. 806–809. Retrieved October 18, 2016.
20. ^Kytle, Ethan J.; Roberts, Blain (March 15, 2015). 'Birth of a Freedom Anthem'. The New York Times.
21. ^Dunaway, 1990, 222–223; Seeger, 1993, 32; see also, Robbie Lieberman, My Song Is My Weapon: People's Songs, American Communism, and the Politics of Culture, 1930-50 (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, [1989] 1995) p.46, p. 185
22. ^Ronald Cohen and Dave Samuelson, Songs for Political Action: Folkmusic, Topical Songs And the American Left 1926–1953, book published as part of Bear Family Records 10-CD box set issued in Germany in 1996.
23. ^Dunaway, 1990, 222–223; Seeger, 1993, 32.
24. ^Lyndon Johnson, speech of March 15, 1965, accessed March 28, 2007 on HistoryPlace.com
25. ^'A new normal'..
26. ^'A New Addition to Martin Luther King's Legacy'.
27. ^From the first King had liked to cite these same inspiration passages. 'The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice' is from the writings of Theodore Parker the Unitarian abolitionist minister who was King's favorite theologian. Compare the transcript of this 1957 speech given in Washington, D.C.'Give Us the Ballot,'. Address Delivered at the Prayer Pilgrimage for Freedom, Washington D.C. 1957-05-17..
28. ^Kotz, Nick (2005). '14. Another Martyr'. Judgment days: Lyndon Baines Johnson, Martin Luther King Jr., and the laws that changed America. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. p. 419. ISBN0-618-08825-3.
29. ^Alan J. Watt (2010). Farm Workers and the Churches: The Movement in California and Texas, Volume 8. Texas A&M University Press. p. 80. ISBN9781603441933. Retrieved 15 July 2016.
30. ^Thomas, Evan. Robert Kennedy: His Life. New York: Simon & Schuster. p. 322. ISBN0-7432-0329-1.
31. ^Dunaway ([1981, 1990] 2008) p. 243.
32. ^CAIN: Civil Rights Association by Bob Purdie
33. ^CAIN: Events: Civil Rights - 'We Shall Overcome' published by the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association (NICRA; 1978)
34. ^The NPR 100 The most important American musical works of the 20th century
35. ^'We Have Overcome', Media General. January 20, 2009.
36. ^Ledarbloggens Youtubiana – hela listan!Svenska Dagbladet, 2 October 2008 (in Swedish)
37. ^Roger Waters releases “We Shall Overcome” video Floydian Slip, June 7, 2010
38. ^'Lyrics of Hum Honge Kaamyab (Hindi)'. www.prayogshala.com. Prayogshala. Retrieved 9 February 2017.
39. ^Seeger, 1993, p. 33
40. ^Highlander Reports, 2004, p. 3.
41. ^ ^ab'WE SHALL OVERCOME FOUNDATION, C.A. No. on behalf of itself and all others similarly situated v. THE RICHMOND ORGANIZATION, INC. (TRO INC.) and LUDLOW MUSIC, INC'(PDF). S.D.N.Y. Retrieved 13 July 2016.
42. ^''We Shall Overcome' belongs to Cincinnati'. Cincinnati Enquirer. Gannett Company. Retrieved 13 July 2016.
43. ^Gamboa, Isaias; Henry, JoAnne F.; Owen, Audrey (2012). We Shall Overcome: Sacred Song On The Devil's Tongue. Beverly Hills, Calif.: Amapola Publ. ISBN978-0615475288.
44. ^''Happy Birthday' Legal Team Turns Attention to 'We Shall Overcome''. Billboard. Retrieved April 15, 2016.
45. ^'Judge throws out 57-year-old copyright on 'We Shall Overcome''. Ars Technica. September 11, 2017. Retrieved September 11, 2017.
46. ^Karr, Rick (September 11, 2017). 'Federal Judge Rules First Verse Of 'We Shall Overcome' Public Domain'. NPR. Retrieved September 11, 2017.
47. ^Gardner, Eriq. 'Song Publisher Agrees 'We Shall Overcome' Is in Public Domain in Legal Settlement'. Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 26 January 2018.
48. ^'Wolf Haldenstein Frees the Copyright to we Shall Overcome, the US's Most Powerful Song'. Wolf Haldenstein. Retrieved 3 February 2018.

References[edit]

• Dunaway, David, How Can I Keep from Singing: Pete Seeger, (orig. pub. 1981, reissued 1990). Da Capo, New York, ISBN0-306-80399-2.
• ___, 'The We Shall Overcome Fund'. Highlander Reports, newsletter of the Highlander Research and Education Center, August–November 2004, p. 3.
• We Shall Overcome, PBS Home Video 174, 1990, 58 minutes.

Further reading[edit]

• Sing for Freedom: The Story of the Civil Rights Movement Through Its Songs: Compiled and edited by Guy and Candie Carawan; foreword by Julian Bond (New South Books, 2007), comprising two classic collections of freedom songs: We Shall Overcome (1963) and Freedom Is A Constant Struggle (1968), reprinted in a single edition. The book includes a major new introduction by Guy and Candie Carawan, words and music to the songs, important documentary photographs, and firsthand accounts by participants in the Civil Rights Movement. Available from Highlander Center.
• We Shall Overcome! Songs of the Southern Freedom Movement: Julius Lester, editorial assistant. Ethel Raim, music editor: Additional musical transcriptions: Joseph Byrd [and] Guy Carawan. New York: Oak Publications, 1963.
• Freedom is a Constant Struggle, compiled and edited by Guy and Candie Carawan. Oak Publications, 1968.
• Alexander Tsesis, We Shall Overcome: A History of Civil Rights and the Law. Yale University Press, 2008.
• We Shall Overcome: A Song that Changed the World, by Stuart Stotts, illustrated by Terrance Cummings, foreword by Pete Seeger. New York: Clarion Books, 2010.
• Sing for Freedom, Folkways Records, produced by Guy and Candie Carawan, and the Highlander Center. Field recordings from 1960–88, with the Freedom Singers, Birmingham Movement Choir, Georgia Sea Island Singers, Doc Reese, Phil Ochs, Pete Seeger, Len Chandler, and many others. Smithsonian-Folkways CD version 1990.
• We Shall Overcome: The Complete Carnegie Hall Concert, June 8, 1963, Historic Live recording June 8, 1963. 2-disc set, includes the full concert, starring Pete Seeger, with the Freedom Singers, Columbia # 45312, 1989. Re-released 1997 by Sony as a box CD set.
• Voices Of The Civil Rights Movement: Black American Freedom Songs 1960-1966. Box CD set, with the Freedom Singers, Fanny Lou Hammer, and Bernice Johnson Reagon. Smithsonian-Folkways CD ASIN: B000001DJT (1997).
• Durman, C 2015, 'We Shall Overcome: Essays on a Great American Song edited by Victor V. Bobetsky', Music Reference Services Quarterly, vol. 8, iss. 3, pp. 185–187
• Graham, D 2016, 'Who Owns 'We Shall Overcome'?', The Atlantic, 14 April, accessed 28 April 2017, https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2016/04/we-shall-overcome-lawsuit/478068/
• Clark, B. & Borchert, S 2015, 'Pete Seeger, Musical Revolutionary', Monthly Review, vol. 66, no. 8, pp. 20–29

External links[edit]

• We Shall Overcome on National Public Radio
• Freedom in the Air: Albany Georgia. 1961-62. SNCC #101. Recorded by Guy Carawan, produced for the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee by Guy Carawan and Alan Lomax. 'Freedom In the Air .. is a record of the 1961 protest in Albany, Georgia, when, two weeks before Christmas, 737 people brought the town nearly to a halt to force its integration. The record's never been reissued and that's a shame, as it's a moving document of a community through its protest songs, church services, and experiences in the thick of the civil rights struggle.'—Nathan Salsburg, host, Root Hog or Die, East Village Radio, January 2007.
• Susanne´s Folksong-Notizen, excerpts from various articles, liner notes, etc. about 'We Shall Overcome'.
• Musical Transcription of 'We Shall Overcome,' based on a recording of Pete Seeger's version, sung with the SNCC Freedom Singers on the 1963 live Carnegie Hall recording, and the 1988 version by Pete Seeger sung at a reunion concert with Pete and the Freedom Singers on the anthology, Sing for Freedom, recorded in the field 1960-88 and edited and annotated by Guy and Candie Carawan, released in 1990 as Smithsonian-Folkways CD SF 40032.
• NPR news article including full streaming versions of Pete Seeger's classic 1963 live Carnegie Hall recording and Bruce Springsteen's tribute version.
• 'Pete Seeger & the story of 'We Shall Overcome' from 1968 interview on The Pop Chronicles.
• 'Something About That Song Haunts You', essay on the history of 'We Shall Overcome,' Complicated Fun, June 9, 2006.
• 'Howie Richmond Views Craft Of Song: Publishing Giant Celebrates 50 Years As TRO Founder', by Irv Lichtman, Billboard, 8, 28, 1999. Excerpt: 'Key folk songs in the [TRO] catalog, as arranged by a number of folklorists, are 'We Shall Overcome,' 'Kisses Sweeter Than Wine' 'On Top Of Old Smokey,' 'So Long, It's Been Good To Know You,' 'Goodnight Irene,' 'If I Had A Hammer,' 'Tom Dooley,' and 'Rock Island Line.'

• 10Regarding deleted sections and assertions of Gamboa book

Hum Honge Kamyab Lyrics

Untitled[edit]

An infobox was requested for the 1963 Joan Baez recording of 'We Shall Overcome' at Wikipedia:WikiProject_Missing_encyclopedic_articles/List_of_notable_songs/14.

Added infobox as requested. Bonnie (talk) 18:06, 9 November 2014 (UTC)

Guy Carawan attributed as author by Pete Seeger[edit]

I edited the page to give a bit more attribution to Guy Carowan. I base this on words I heard myself from Pete Seeger at a People's Music Network event in the 1980s, when he introduced Guy saying something like '..and he wrote a little song that became rather well known..' or something like that. I heard this from Pete's own mouth, though it was twenty years ago and my memory may be a bit distorted. If this is controversial, I can ask some of those still involved with PMN to cross-check what Pete's said.

Russell 15:45, 28 December 2006 (UTC)

This song is popular elsewhere too![edit]

It should probably be noted that this song has spread around so as to have significance outside of any civil rights movements, and even translated to other languages. There seems to be no other way how in India both this song (or probably some variant) and the Hindi version 'Hum honge kaamyaab' could be taught to me in the Kindergarten (oh! old memories..) in 1985-86.

Proof: Google:'hum honge kaamyaab', Google:'we shall overcome one day' (the first match [1] as of now is about a Keralafinance minister singing the song)

BTW after all that (I was actually searching google for lyrics before I tried wikipedia) it is surprising to know that the song is not public domain. Is the Hindi variant, etc. illegal (I couldn't find the author of the Hindi variant, though)? Is singing the song (or variants) also illegal? Then should the verses be removed from the article? -- Paddu 25 Dec 2004

The article explains the copyright situation: Seeger took a 'defensive' copyright, to prevent inappropriate commercialization of the song. -- Jmabel Talk 00:55, Apr 3, 2005 (UTC)

The artists donate their half (1/6th each) of the royalties to the Highlander Research Center, but does the publisher donate its half? Just asking. 96.250.132.201 (talk) 17:11, 10 July 2008 (UTC)July 10, 2008

The song has also become famous in Czechoslovakia as a protest song against the communist regime (even before the Velvet Revolution), with the name 'Jednou budem dál' and Czech text by Spirituál kvintet. - Mike Rosoft 21:49, 19 March 2007 (UTC)

—Preceding unsigned comment added by 221.143.30.175 (talk) 17:06, 11 September 2008 (UTC)

Variants[edit]

There seem to be many variants of this song, e.g. [2], [3]. How is it verified that the version currently in the article is the original? -- Paddu 25 Dec 2004

Date[edit]

Someone has added this to Category:1903 songs. If you read the article, you will see that associating any particular year with the song is rather arbitrary. -- Jmabel Talk 00:55, Apr 3, 2005 (UTC)

Hindi version[edit]

This was recently pasted into the article; I've moved it here. Why is this translation of encyclopedic notability in the English-language Wikipedia? -- Jmabel Talk 18:00, Apr 9, 2005 (UTC)

hum honge kamiyaab
hum honge kamiyaab
hum honge kamiyaab ek din
o ho man mein hai vishwaas
poora hai vishwaas
hum honge kamiyaab ek din

o ho man mein hai vishwas
poora hai vishwaas
hum honge kamiyaab ek din

hogi shaanti charon oor
hogi shaanti charon oor
hogi shaanti charon oor ek din

o ho man mein hai vishwas
poora hai vishwaas
hum honge kamiyaab ek din

Joan Baez[edit]

'…the song was associated with Joan Baez…'. Really? Particularly? I suspect this was only true of people who either particularly liked Joan Baez's singing style, or (conversely) particularly disliked both her and her politics. I don't think many people actively involved in the civil rights movement ever associated the song with Joan Baez. Is there some citable basis for this statement? -- Jmabel Talk July 3, 2005 23:53 (UTC)I think she did lead the singing at the March on Washington. I changed the article to reflect that fact. At the time, it may have been associated with her. Bob Dylan and various others, including Harry Belafonte, were up there with her and Dr. King, but at the time she was the star and undeniably got a lot of mileage from the event. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 96.250.24.191 (talk) 22:46, 7 September 2008 (UTC)

Copyright section - how much is actually sourced?[edit]

Few (not me) have this book by Seegar handy, but what does he actually claim? Outside of the copyright section the article seems to express the idea that the lyrics and music both date back for a much longer time. I think that aside from a one-sentence claim that Seegar's particular arrangement is copyrighted by him and goes to support the listed fund, the rest is probably just speculation, especially the stuff about the possible court case based on some other precedent (there's no policy that Wikipedia is NOT a circuit court of appeals but maybe we need one ;) ) Being unsure of the situation though, I'll leave it to a second opinion to actually delete it down. Wnt (talk) 19:25, 3 June 2008 (UTC)

I agree, and will remove the following final two sentences: 'However, in a similar legal case involving the Kingston Trio or similar group in the case of 'Tom Dooley---Hang your Head down Tom Dooley,' the court ruled that they had infringed upon the ownership rights of a man from North Carolina. It is likely that a court would rule the same in the case of the Seeger case outside any arrangements that he has made.' Wikipedia is not a court of speculation, and the cases seem quite distinct to me. 'Hang down your head, Tom Dula' was sung by Frank Profitt of North Carolina, collected in 1938 by Frank Warner, who introduced it to Alan Lomax, who printed it in Folk Song USA in 1947 and subsequent editions. A legal settlement divided future royalties among the Kingston Trio, Profitt, Warner, and Lomax. This time period clearly fell within the scope of copyright law, apparently unlike 'We Shall Overcome.' Dwalls (talk) 02:12, 3 July 2008 (UTC) To clarify, I should add to the previous sentence 'in the case of the 1901 composition of the Rev. Charles Tindley.' Dwalls (talk) 04:00, 3 July 2008 (UTC)

Note, the 'Tom Dooley' settlement divided the Artist's Rights amongst the Kingston Trio, Profitt, Warner, and Lomax (1/8 each); however, the publisher gets half the profits, so half the money, i.e., the Publishers' Rights, went to Howie Richmond's organization, TRO. There was probably plenty to divide, though 96.250.132.201 (talk) 17:35, 10 July 2008 (UTC)July 10, 2008. .

Why is this written in the 'Origins' section: 'Tindley's 'I'll Overcome Someday' thus provides the structure for 'We Shall Overcome', with both text and melody having undergone a process of alteration.' WHO HAS THE RIGHT OR AUTHORITY TO ASSERT THIS CLAIM???? There is absolutely no evidence of this fact. In fact, Pete Seeger himself has stated in recorded interviews that 'Nobody knows who wrote the original..' How is it that this so-called editor can make up things as if they were history? Why are there people here trying to perpetuate the same lie that has been told for 52 years?? I suspect there are 'editors' here that work for Pete Seeger or TRO, the publishing company claiming illegal rights to the song. Shouldn't these facts have been verified by someone other than Seeger or authors that interviewed Seeger or other copyright claimants for their books? CHECK FOR YOURSELVES. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.90.159.249 (talk) 05:40, 15 October 2012 (UTC)

Lyrics[edit]

Can someone put the lyrics on Wikisource or something and link to it? -- Frap (talk) 19:23, 15 October 2008 (UTC)

We shall overcome,We shall overcome,We shall overcome some day.

Chorus:Oh deep in my heart,I do belive,We shall overcome some day.

We'll walk hand in hand,We'll walk hand in hand,We'll walk hand in hand some day.

Chorus:We shall all be free,We shall all be free,We shall all be free some day.

We are not afraid,We are not afraid,We are not afraid today.

Chorus:We are not alone,We are not alone,We are not alone today.

Chorus:The whole wide world around,The whole wide world around,The whole wide world around some day.

Chorus:We shall overcome,We shall overcome,We shall overcome some day!

Regarding deleted sections and assertions of Gamboa book[edit]

I have restored the above sections of the talk page deleted by Isaias24 without archiving any of the material. This is inappropriate behavior. In addition, I find the assertions of the Gamboa book referred to below to be difficult to credit without further critical agreement that its central thesis is credible. Whether the material ought to be deleted until such verification is obtained, or whether the section should simply be cleaned up according to Wikipedia standards, ought to be debated on this page. Dwalls (talk) 06:08, 9 September 2012 (UTC)

Deleting the entry dedicated to the discovery of We Shall Overcome's true author by Isaias Gamboa,i snot just a violation of the First Amendment, it speaks volumes to the very reason We Shall Overcome was misappropriated in the first place and has remained in the hands of Pete Seeger and others all these years. Truth, crushed to earth, will rise again. Perhaps there are those who would prefer to allow others to believe Seeger and his cohorts were incapable of such a thing. History will soon tell another story. I advise not removing the entry. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.90.159.249 (talk) 20:52, 8 October 2012 (UTC)

Further to the above; from the looks of things this is an issue which has been going on for a while now. I have removed this section from the page and will post it here:

True Author of We Shall Overcome REVEALED

n August of 2012, the book 'We Shall Overcome: Sacred Song on the Devil's Tongue' (ISBN: 978-0615475288), was published. Written by author and 30-year music-industry veteran, Isaias Gamboa, the book proves in extraordinary detail that We Shall Overcome was actually derived from a popular copyrighted Baptist hymn entitled 'If My Jesus Wills'; written by a Cincinnati, Ohio woman named Louise Shropshire. The evidence in the book clearly demonstrates that Shropshire's song was in fact COPYRIGHTED in 1954, proving her song to be the original source of We Shall Overcome -not Charles Albert Tindley's 'I'll Overcome' as has been proposed for over 52 years. The book also reveals that Louise Shropshire was a close, influential friend of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth and Rev, Thomas A. Dorsey and features never-before-seen photographs of Shropshire with these historical figures. After thorough analysis, prominent musicologists, historians, copyright and legal experts have unanimously affirmed these extraordinary discoveries. In addition to the striking musical similarities, Louise Shropshire's lyrics expose and bare witness to this fifty two year old historical innacuracy. Shropshire's lyrics: I'll Overcome, I'll Overcome, I'll Overcome Someday If My Jesus Wills, I Do Believe, I'll Overcome Someday'.After numerous attempts, in August of 2012, Isaias Gamboa made contact with Pete Seeger and in a video-taped meeting at Seeger's home in upstate New York, Seeger was shown the evidence of Shropshire's Music and Lyrics. Without hesitation, Seeger stated 'This is Wonderful' adding that Louise Shropshire 'should be part of We Shall Overcome's history'^[1]

Badly formatted and written as it is, should some of this be included? I have no way of knowing whether Isaias24 is Gamboa himself, but whoever it is should discuss this on the talkpage. I have done a quick Google search and the book certainly exists, but I can see no sign of it having been reviewed in the mainstream press. Therefore we should be careful about this being WP:FRINGE. As it stands the section should not be on the page as frankly it is not written in the WP style, promotes the book by Gamboa and needs radical trimming. There may well be musical similarities, but I think it is a very thin argument to say that credit for the song should go to someone who used the word 'overcome' repeatedly. Besides which, can't WSO be dated back to the early 1900s, in which case did the Shropshire song not originate from that too? We should be wary until this is a widely accepted starting point. Ben (Major Bloodnok) (talk) 19:15, 7 October 2012 (UTC)

I have just checked the Talk Page history; why was the section by Isaias24 deleted? I can't see any reason why this section should not be on the TP. In addition, this user seems interested in helping to improve WP. Given the poor retention record of new editors, should we not at the very least welcome them, irrespective whether we like their ideas? Ben (Major Bloodnok) (talk) 19:23, 7 October 2012 (UTC)

Thanks for doing that, I share your feeling on the topic. Video link (through Gamboa) to a 2011 version of 'If My Jesus Wills' — as presented here, it's definitely a version of the song under discussion. I guess the main point of interest (scandal if you will) would not be that Shropshire invented the song but that she copyrighted in 1954 and then was cut out of the deal when it became popular. Isaias24, welcome, whoever you are, and I hope we can work together on including your information in the encyclopedia. Shalom, groupuscule (talk) 19:38, 7 October 2012 (UTC)

Is the administrator of this site affiliated with either Pete Seeger of his publishing company TRO?? It sure seems like it. Does anyone care about this Charles Albert tindley story being proven a total lie? Has anyone here even heard Tindley's original copyrighted hymn?? I have. If you had done so, you would know that there is no way Seeger or his accomplices called upon it for inspiration. It is drastically different aside from some lyrics, which were common for the time and are arranged in a completely different format. What you don't know is that all of the assertions written here, come from the very people who have claimed copyright ownership of the song for all these years. Do your homework!! Whether anyone here knows it or not, Gamboa's book has blown the lid off a scandal the likes of which the music industry has never seen. It proves that Seeger and his cronies hijacked a song they knew belonged to someone else. In a month's time, this will be global news. Musicologists recognized worldwide have unanimously affirmed his findings and soon this We Shall Overcome page will be used as an example to show how legions of blind, Seeger loving folkies, helped him get away with this crime for over 50 years. Is anyone here concerned that Pete Seeger may have in fact plagiarized Louise Shropshire's song, If My Jesus Wills??? If not, you should be. There is already plenty of Black press covering Gamboa's book in Detroit, Atlanta, Dallas, Philly and L.A. But wait..isn't your reference to The so-called 'mainstream press' a pseudonym for the White press?

What has been done here is shocking and wreaks with racial undertones. By flat out removing the entry for Isaias Gamboa's book, this page is trying to silence the truth; clearly demonstrating the biases, which facilitated these type of misappropriations for over a century. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.90.159.249 (talk) 04:38, 14 October 2012 (UTC)

There is a lot of truth in what you're saying. For example, I agree that that there is an underlying bias on Wikipedia that equates 'mainstream' or reasonable press with the white press. The majority of Wikipedia editors are white males! The vast majority do not have bad intentions, but they have certain familiarities that dispose them to act in certain ways. I am quite sure that this page is not being patrolled by vicious Seeger fans. The real issue here has more to do with the process of editing Wikipedia. Wikipedia has a well-developed encyclopedic form, and is increasingly trying to adhere to standards for referencing the text that appears to outside sources. While I may agree that there is a bias towards white sources (as well as many other types of biases)—that's not why the section on the Gamboa book was removed! Using citations from any sources, black press included, would be a good way to create content that could be included on the page. Ultimately, if Gamboa's claims are correct, then the whole page would need to be changed, particularly the opening and the first section. But we can't change the whole page right away just because we have heard that a book is coming out on the topic! Change can be slow. But we can get it right. I invite anyone who is interested in adding some of the claims made in the Gamboa book to start gathering research, evidence, and sources here on the talk page, so that we can construct Wikipedia text that everyone will accept. Thanks, groupuscule (talk) 07:22, 14 October 2012 (UTC)

With reference to the above, there is certainly a press release around see here, but I still can't find any news about this, beyond Amazon and Barnes and Nobles's web-sites. The IP editor may be correct in saying that there is press interest. Unfortunately I can't find it. However, I am based in the UK so can't get Detroit newspapers. I am certainly not a 'Seeger lover', but as Groupuscule has said we need more sources than what we have before there can be a massive over-haul of this page. By all means lets add a reference to the book (as long as we are not giving undue prominence to a 'fringe' theory). The some of the opening pages are available to read on Amazon (WP has blocked the page so I can't link to it), so we can certainly explain in brief Gamboa's claim. This may have to do until there is further support. Ben (Major Bloodnok) (talk) 16:56, 14 October 2012 (UTC)

Consider this short video clip; a small part of a feature documentary currently in production. You will see Seeger in the end, being confronted by Louise Shropshire's grandson with evidence. Seeing is believing..or is it?: ^[2]Think..why do you all believe Seeger's story?? Because he said so??? Outside of the people who copyrighted the song, no independent sources exist to prove Seeger's colorful myth. Think for yourselves. As unthinkable as this act was, it actually happened. The song that the Library of Congress has called 'The Most Powerful Sng of the 20th Century' was plagiarized from a black woman, who filed two copyrights for her sacred hymn in 1945 and was an influential friend of Re Martin Luther King, Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth and Rev. Thomas A. Dorsey (The father of Gospel Music)..150 photo's..all proven in the the book. I am looking forward to seeing this site change to reflect the truth..ugly as it may be. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.90.159.249 (talk) 06:30, 15 October 2012 (UTC) ADDITIONAL PRESS FOR GAMBOA BOOK / This is not going away..page needs major overhaul.^{[3][4][5][6][7]}

References[edit]

1. ^http://www.amazon.com/We-Shall-Overcome-Influential-penniless/dp/0615475280
2. ^http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MsL4i6tdWlk
3. ^http://www.vibe.com/article/isaias-gamboa-explains-who-wrote-we-shall-overcome
4. ^http://www.wsbradio.com/Player/101498721/
5. ^http://wchbnewsdetroit.com/2426934/book-review-we-shall-overcome-sacred-song-on-the-devils-tongue-by-isaias-gamboa/
6. ^http://sundaymorningliveblog.wordpress.com/2012/08/27/sml-88-99-no-show-labor-day-weekend/
7. ^http://www.eurweb.com/2012/10/new-book-reveals-the-untold-history-of-iconic-civil-rights-anthem-we-shall-overcome/

A thick red line[edit]

“Sheffield then commissioned a musicological report and involved the NAACP in the effort to seek truth, justice and recognition for Louise Shropshire's role in the history and creation of 'We Shall Overcome'.[13]”

That is not an appropriate style for an encyclopedia article. It’s fine, however, for an op-ed.

There’s a communist back story to this song that is missing: Monteagle, Seeger, et al., were Reds, which is not a secret, outside of Wikipedia. I wonder how many times this information has been censored.24.90.190.96 (talk) 20:56, 20 September 2013 (UTC)

I've added a tag to that statement as it doesn't appear to be in the cited source. If a better source cannot be found, I suggest the paragraph be deleted. But your opinions as to a 'communist back story' or to censorship are even less relevant, unless you can back them up from reliable sources. Ghmyrtle (talk) 21:10, 20 September 2013 (UTC)

Louise Shropshire authorship[edit]

It's great that Cincinnati has recognised Shropshire's creation of the song, and this should certainly be added to the page. The page is a bit of a mess really, and it doesn't need a long quote from the Council's minutes. I applaud the editors who have been trying to find this information, but it needs organising in a proper fashion.

What it does need is a proper addressing of the authorship, quite separate from the fact that it became used in the Civil Rights movement and became associated with the artists that it did. The page itself is contradictory. I'd be tempted to put the authorship stuff later on, and start with the Civil Rights movement to explain it's significance.

Are there more sources around which support the Gamboa book? Although the action by Cincinnati is certainly notable, I don't think it can be used as a 'source' as such.Ben (Major Bloodnok) (talk) 20:37, 9 October 2013 (UTC)

A microcosm of all that's wrong with Wiki[edit]

The page has been hijacked by one Isaias Gamboa, a 'licensed Christian minister' on a self-promotion crusade. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.251.87.204 (talk) 16:44, 9 April 2016 (UTC)

I revamped much of the page. Given that a reliable source has discussed Gamboa's claims, they do get a small mention because he's involved in the lawsuit, but I reverted the remainder back to a more neutral version. ViperSnake151 Talk 15:27, 18 July 2016 (UTC)

Excellent work! It's certainly worth a mention but had totally distorted the article. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 80.12.35.82 (talk) 15:57, 6 August 2016 (UTC)