How did “We Shall Overcome” become associated with the civil rights movement?

“We Shall Overcome” became the anthem of the American civil rights movement through its evolution as a protest song and its dissemination by the Highlander Folk School in Tennessee.123

The song originated from the gospel hymn “I’ll Overcome Someday” by Charles Albert Tindley and was adapted into a pro-union protest song by striking workers in 1945, where Lucille Simmons changed the refrain from “I” to “we”. Zilphia Horton of the Highlander Folk School learned this version and taught it to students and activists, including Pete Seeger, who helped popularize it.45

Highlander’s network of activists spread the song across the South, where it became a central tool for leadership training and political empowerment. Its status as an anthem was cemented by high-profile performances, such as Joan Baez singing it at the 1963 March on Washington, and its inclusion in a 1965 speech by President Lyndon B. Johnson regarding the Voting Rights Act.126