We Shall Overcome lyrically descended from a hymn by Rev Tindley called βI’ll Overcome Some Dayβ, which was first published in 1900.
Rev. Dr. Charles Albert Tindley (1851 β1933), the son of a slave, was an American Methodist minister and author of approximately 50 gospel hymns, known as “The Prince of Preachers“.
He was a lyricist and poet whose words spoke directly to the feelings of his audiences, most of whom were often poor, illiterate people, just arrived in the North.
βI’ll Overcome Some Dayβ originated as a work song when slaves sang phrases such as βIβll be all right somedayβ as they worked in the fields, before becoming known in the churches.
The life of slaves was very hard, and music was one of the few things that made it tolerable.
In 1908, during a coal-mine strike in Birmingham, Alabama, more than 10,000 black and white workers met every day and sang βI Will Overcome.β
Four decades later, that same song echoed in another Southern strike, a five-month strike against the American Tobacco Co. in 1945 in Charleston, South Carolina, due to the workers’ request to have a fair wage at the tobacco processing factory where they were employed. It was sung by those tobacco workers, who were mostly female and African American, as a spirit-raising anthem.
To help them remain optimistic during that cold, wet winter at the end of each day’s picketing a woman named Lucille Simmons led the strikers in this song. They sang together “We will overcomeβ, and added new verses, such as βWe will win our rights,β and βWe will win this fightβ. βWeβ seemed to give the song a more universal and collective appeal.
Music scholars have pointed out that the first half of “We Shall Overcome” drew on the 18th-century European hymn βO Sanctissimaβ, a famous Catholic chant also known as “The Sicilian Mariners Hymn”. This refers to a tradition of Sicilian seamen, who used to end each day on their ships by singing it in unison as an invocation of their protector, the Virgin Mary. The first lines of the Latin text are similar to the final line of the 12th-century prayer βSalve Reginaβ: “O clemens, O pia, O dulcis Virgo Maria.”

ON FALLING OUT THEN RECONCILING OR GENUINELY, AUTHENTICALLY, HONESTLY LETTING GO
β – Diamond Hard – β
β Once a Friend ALWAYS a Friend
β Once a Lover ALWAYS a Lover
β The State of The Relationship is Active or Dormant
…it’s Crystal Clear Clarity ‘Moving On’ is a State of Mind; BOOM, SWISH, SLAM DUNK!!!…
β – Diamond Hard – β
…βββ…
ON THE USELESSNESS OF ‘SUCCEEDING’ AND ‘FAILING’
β – Diamond Hard – β
The Difference Between ‘Success’ and ‘Failure’ is NO FUCKING DIFFERENCE!!!; it’s Crystal Clear Clarity that Rudyard Kipling has it Spot On In His Poem ~ ‘If’, also ‘Desiderata’ and ‘The Serenity Poem’ ARE also Worth a Read to Address The MisGuided Foolishness of Many Of Us…as a Nigger only I Decide whether I ‘Fail’ or ‘Succeed’; all the rest is White Noise ππ πππππππ
β – Diamond Hard – β
…βββ…
ON MINDS OVER MATTERS
β – Diamond Hard – β
β If it Doesn’t Matter, Never Mind; if it Does Matter Be Mindful…I Advise You ALL to Stay In STEP (Serenely Tranquilly Equilibrially Placidly) and INSYNCH (Insightful Numerical Synchronous Yielding Nominal Cognisant Humble) EveryOne
…if I Die by My Own Hand, aka SUICIDE, or by The Hand of AnOther, aka MURDER/MANSLAUGHTER, I Die; a Return to Bliss where I WILL!!! Regret the Nature of My Death…
β – Diamond Hard – β
…βββ…
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Beautiful!
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Yes…
πΈπ¦πΈπ¦πΈ
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Beautiful post, Luisa. I knew the connection with the song “We shall overcome …” but not that it
also has connections with the Sicilian Mariner’s hymn. Thank you. I will now listen to them both.
Miriam
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Thank you for saying those kind words.
As usual, your comment means a lot to me, dear Miriam
πΉπΉπΉπΉπΉ
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A beautiful historical and informational overview!π
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Thank you for your valued feedback
πππππ
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Ero piccola, ma quanti ricordi e soprattutto quanti ideali! Spero che sia così anche peri piccoli di adesso!!
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Me lo auguro anch’io… devono avere degli ideali da perseguire e dei sani sogni da realizzare
πππππ
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bell’articolo, interessante e profondo!! Complimenti!!
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Ti ringrazio infinitamente
Buona serata
πΉπΉπΉπΉπΉ
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Interessante!
Un canto che ha segnato un’epoca di cambiamento.
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π€ππ€
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