ill-overcome-someday &laquo; WordPress.com Tag Feed http://en.wordpress.com/tag/ill-overcome-someday/ Feed of posts on WordPress.com tagged "ill-overcome-someday" Tue, 21 May 2013 21:07:51 +0000 http://en.wordpress.com/tags/ en <![CDATA[Morning Song - I'll Overcome Someday]]> http://masscommons.wordpress.com/2012/03/25/morning-song-ill-overcome-someday/ Sun, 25 Mar 2012 12:17:19 +0000 masscommons http://masscommons.wordpress.com/2012/03/25/morning-song-ill-overcome-someday/ This may sound like a “pie in the sky by and by” type of song at first listen, but that’s only if you don’t know about its composer, Rev. Charles Albert Tindley, “The Prince of Preachers”.  Born free, Tindley grew up among slaves and never received a formal education.  Despite that, he learned Greek and Hebrew, became a Methodist minister and built East Calvary Methodist Church in Philadelphia up from 130 members when he arrived, to a congregation of over 10,000.

Tindley led protests against Birth Of A Nation, started a feeding ministry at his church, and created the East Calvary Building & Loan Association so members could get mortgages to buy homes.  With that history, the transmutation of “I’ll Overcome Someday” into the labor and civil rights anthem, “We Shall Overcome”, in the decades following Tindley’s death seems less like a radical change and more like a gradual unveiling.

The world is one great battlefield, with forces all arrayed.
 If in my heart I do not yield, I’ll overcome some day.

]]> <![CDATA[We Shall Overcome]]> http://artofresistance.com.au/2012/02/24/we-shall-overcome/ Fri, 24 Feb 2012 04:52:36 +0000 Matt Anslow http://artofresistance.com.au/2012/02/24/we-shall-overcome/

Joan Baez, National Civil Rights March, Washington DC, Aug 1963

“We Shall Overcome” is a famous protest song that became a key anthem of the American Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s. It is derived from an old gospel song, “I’ll Overcome Someday,” by Charles Albert Tindley.

The song was made famous when it began to be sung by folksingers like Pete Seeger and Joan Baez at protests, rallies and concerts.

The song was also quoted by Martin Luther King Jr. in his final sermon before his assassination, delivered on March 31, 1968.

The song continues to be used today by labour rights and peace movements. Below is a version sung by Bruce Springsteen.

We shall overcome
We shall overcome
We shall overcome some day

CHORUS:
Oh, deep in my heart
I do believe
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

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 some day

We are not alone
We are not alone
We are not alone some day

The whole wide world around
The whole wide world around
The whole wide world around some day

We shall overcome
We shall overcome
We shall overcome some day

What are your thoughts on this song? Add your comment below.

]]>