[Ads-l] Antedating of "We Shall Overcome"

[Shapiro, Fred]

The OED has an entry for "we shall overcome."  The generally accepted history of this civil rights anthem is that it traces to Charles A. Tindley's early-twentieth-century gospel song "I'll Overcome Some Day," followed by Lucille Simmons's 1940s labor version "We Will Overcome," then by Pete Seeger's small but crucial rewording to "We Shall Overcome."  The OED's entry can be slightly improved upon in two ways.  Their dating of Tindley's hymn is inaccurate, and the Seeger version was at least a year older than OED's first citation.

we shall overcome (OED, s.v. overcome, v., 1.d., 1948; 1961 with Seeger spelling; 1901 in square brackets)

[1900 Charles Albert Tindley in C. Austin Mills & Maurice A. Clifton New Songs of the Gospel No. 27 (Internet Archive)  I'll overcome some day (some day), I'll overcome some day, If in my heart I do not yield, I'll overcome some day.]

1960 Commercial Appeal (Memphis) 12 Apr. 26/2 (Newspapers.com)  The Negroes — plus a half-dozen whites — sang a hymn, "We Shall Overcome."

Fred Shapiro



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