We Shall Overcome                       Foundation

Cincinnati woman gets her due for civil rights anthem 'We Shall Overcome'

CLOSE In 1962, Martin Luther King Jr. came to Cincinnati to speak at a banquet for friend and fellow civil rights leader Fred Shuttlesworth. Hotels were filled, so Shuttlesworth, the pastor of Revelation Baptist Church in the West End, turned to his congregation's music minister for help.
LOUISE SHROPSHIRE 
with close friend, 
Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

EVERYTHING YOU THINK YOU KNOW ABOUT WE SHALL OVERCOME IS PROBABLY WRONG.


The U.S. Library of Congress has called We Shall Overcome “the most powerful song of the twentieth century,” noting:


"Word for word, the short, simple lyrics to 'We Shall Overcome' may be some of the most influential words in the English language."


But the true story behind this anthem—and the woman who inspired it—has been buried for decades.


Between 1932 and 1942, Louise Shropshire, an African American composer and granddaughter of slaves, wrote a sacred hymn entitled If My Jesus Wills—known affectionately in her community as I'll Overcome. Her lyrics declared:

"I'll overcome, I'll overcome, I'll overcome someday
Oh yes, if my Jesus wills, I do believe, I'll overcome someday."


Unbeknownst to Mrs. Shropshire, in 1960—and again in 1963—Pete Seeger and four fellow folk singers copyrighted We Shall Overcome as a derivative work, listing no known original author.
Unbeknownst to Pete Seeger and his co-authors, Louise Shropshire had already copyrighted If My Jesus Wills in 1954.


A devoted church leader and close friend of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Mrs. Shropshire granted King permission to use her hymn to inspire the Civil Rights Movement. She took joy in seeing her sacred song transformed into a freedom anthem. Yet she never received credit for her authorship.


In 1993, as she lay on her deathbed, she turned to her grandson, Robert A. Goins Shropshire, and whispered her final wish:
“Someday, somebody’s gonna do somethin’ with all my music.”

That “somebody” would be her grandson—who, years later, enlisted the help of music producer and former bandmate, Isaias Gamboa. Initially skeptical of her claim, Gamboa set out to disprove it. Instead, he uncovered overwhelming evidence that Louise Shropshire had played a central role in the creation of We Shall Overcome—and that her work had been misappropriated by powerful music industry interests.


Over the next eight years, Gamboa crisscrossed the United States, filming powerful interviews with historians, musicians, and civil rights leaders—including Pete Seeger himself. His groundbreaking research culminated in the 2012 publication of his book, We Shall Overcome: Sacred Song on the Devil’s Tongue.


In 2016, under Gamboa’s leadership, the We Shall Overcome Foundation filed a class-action lawsuit against The Richmond Organization (TRO), which had long claimed ownership of the song. In January 2018, U.S. District Judge Denise Cote ruled in favor of the plaintiffs, releasing We Shall Overcome into the public domain and ending its decades-long bondage.


The remarkable true story is now the subject of a forthcoming feature-length documentary: CLAIM THE SKY: WE SHALL OVERCOME,

written, produced, and directed by Isaias Gamboa, scheduled for release in 2026.

BOARD OF EDUCATION 

 

 

 

CINCINNATI, OHIO 

 

 

PROCEEDINGS 

 

 

SPECIAL MEETING 

 

September 23, 2013




A RESOLUTION COMMEMORATING THE MUSICAL CONTRIBUTION OF LOUISE SHROPSHIRE TO THE 

AMERICAN CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT 

 

 

WHEREAS, Louise Shropshire (1913-1993), the granddaughter of slaves, was born Louise Jarrett on February 15, 1913 in Coffee County, Alabama; and 


WHEREAS, Mrs. Shropshire and her family moved to Cincinnati, Ohio in 1917, and resided in the 800 block of Fourth Street in the West End, in search of a better life than what they had endured as rural Alabama sharecroppers; and 


WHEREAS, Louise Shropshire attended the Cincinnati Public School, Abigail Cutter Junior High formerly the School for Creative and Performing Arts, then the home of Old Woodward High School; and 


WHEREAS, At a young age, Louise demonstrated a gift of music and composed many hymns that were significant to the Civil Rights Movement, a movement that was a fight for equality, ensuring that the rights of all people are equally protected by the law, including the rights of minorities; and 

 

WHEREAS, Louise’s composer talents were coupled with her choir director skills that awarded her the position of directing the mass choir of the National Convention of Gospel Choirs and Choruses convention and performing with her family singing group at the convention; and 


WHEREAS, Mrs. Shropshire's gift, love for music and entrepreneurial spirit carried over into her owning a music store called You Name It Sound Shop, and launching, Shropshire Records—her own record label; and 


WHEREAS, sometime between 1932 and 1942, Mrs. Shropshire wrote If My Jesus Wills, the national hymn of the non-violent civil rights movement, and copyrighted the song in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1954 and;  


WHEREAS, in 1960 folk singers Guy Carawan, Frank Hamilton, Myles Horton, Zilphia Horton, and Pete Seeger registered a copyright for We Shall Overcome as a derivative work without accrediting the work to Mrs. Shropshire; and 

 

WHEREAS, "I’ll Overcome, I’ll Overcome, I’ll Overcome Someday, If My Jesus Wills, I Do Believe, I’ll Overcome Someday," are the lyrics to If My Jesus Wills; and  

 

WHEREAS, lyrics to We Shall Overcome are:  "We Shall Overcome, We Shall Overcome, We Shall Overcome Someday, Deep in My Heart, I Do Believe, We Shall Overcome Someday;" and 

 

WHEREAS, those lyrics, through copyrights and musical specialists, confirm that We Shall Overcome was derived through those works of If My Jesus Wills and inspired one of the greatest freedom movements in U.S. history, the most powerful song of the 20th Century, and was used first as a protest song in 1945, according to the United States Library of Congress; and 

 

WHEREAS, the School for Creative and Performing Arts Orchestra will be performing the Battle Hymn of the Republic at An Evening of Hope, The Life and Legacy of Louise Shropshire program, on September 27, 2013, at the Inspirational Baptist Church in Cincinnati, Ohio. 

 

NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that on September 23, 2013, the Cincinnati Board of Education commemorates the musical contributions of Louise Shropshire to the American Civil Rights Movement; and 

 

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Cincinnati Public School District recognizes the importance of the arts, and the significant impact of the song, We Shall Overcome, and how those lyrics continue to give strength to many. 

 

 

Eileen Cooper Reed, President 

Alexander P. Kuhns, Vice President 

Melanie Bates 

Eve Bolton 

Catherine D. Ingram 

A. Chris Nelms 

Vanessa Y. White 

 

 

Ms. Ingram moved and Mr. Kuhns seconded the motion that The Resolution Commemorating The Musical Contribution Of Louise Shropshire To The American Civil Rights Movement be approved. 

 

Ayes:  Bates, Ingram, Kuhns, Nelms, President Cooper Reed (5) 

Noes:  None 

 

President Cooper Reed declared the motion carried. 


See original here on page 563: http://www.cps-k12.org/sites/www.cps-k12.org/files/files/pdfs/boardminutes/092313%20Special%26Regular_0.pdf