Correcting the Record on We Shall Overcome: Fraud, Folklore, and Louise Shropshire

By Isaias Gamboa
Founder and President, We Shall Overcome Foundation

Introduction

In July 2022, The Journal of the Society for American Music (Cambridge University Press) published an article entitled “All Rights Reserved: Behind the Strategic Copyright of We Shall Overcome” by Lizzy Cooper Davis. While I respect Davis’s scholarship, her article unfortunately repeated decades of misinformation, overlooking crucial evidence that reveals the true origins of We Shall Overcome and the fraudulent manner in which the song was controlled for nearly 60 years.

For over a decade, I have devoted my life to uncovering the truth about We Shall Overcome. My research has culminated in two books, a documentary film, and the successful 2016 class action lawsuit (We Shall Overcome Foundation v. The Richmond Organization/Ludlow Music), which ultimately placed the song in the public domain. The Library of Congress has called We Shall Overcome “the most powerful song of the 20th century,” and I believe the world deserves to know the truth about its origins, its misuse, and its rightful author, Louise Shropshire.

Why the Lawsuit Mattered

Davis suggested that the lawsuit did “more harm than good” because it disrupted the flow of royalties to the Highlander Research and Education Center’s We Shall Overcome Fund, which provided small grants to Southern Black artists. But this framing ignores the central fact: those royalties were collected illegally.

Our lawsuit revealed that Pete Seeger, Guy Carawan, Frank Hamilton, and Myles Horton, knowingly signed fraudulent copyright agreements in 1960 and 1963, claiming authorship of a song they did not write. TRO/Ludlow Music then exploited the copyright for nearly six decades. Judge Denise Cote of the Southern District of New York confirmed in her rulings that TRO was “at risk of a finding of fraud on the U.S. Copyright Office”.

Good intentions cannot justify fraud. As Judge Cote wrote:

“The gap in the proof of originality cannot be filled by good intentions.”

That is why our lawsuit was necessary: to restore We Shall Overcome to the public domain, where it belongs as a freedom song for all.

What the Evidence Shows

My research and the lawsuit’s discovery process produced overwhelming evidence that the official narrative surrounding We Shall Overcome was false:

1. No Original Contribution by Seeger and Others
   – Court filings prove Seeger, Carawan, Hamilton, and Horton contributed no original melody or lyrics.
2. Pete Seeger’s Own Admissions
   – In personal notes and letters, Seeger admitted he added his name to dozens of songs—including We Shall Overcome—despite not writing them. In 1994 he even asked TRO to remove his name from the copyright. TRO refused.
3. The Tindley Myth Debunked
   – For years, scholars claimed Rev. Charles Albert Tindley’s 1901 hymn “I’ll Overcome Someday” was the antecedent to We Shall Overcome. But TRO’s own internal documents show Seeger and others knew this was false.
4. Louise Shropshire’s Copyright
   – In 1954, Cincinnati gospel composer Louise Shropshire copyrighted her hymn “If My Jesus Wills”, commonly sung as “I’ll Overcome”. Her lyrics—
   “I’ll overcome, I’ll overcome, I’ll overcome someday. Oh yes, if my Jesus wills, I do believe, I’ll overcome someday”—
   are strikingly similar to We Shall Overcome, making her the most direct and documented source.
5. Shropshire’s Connection to the Movement
   – Shropshire was a close friend of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth, and Rev. Thomas A. Dorsey, the father of gospel music. She performed her hymn nationally as Mass Choir director of the National Convention of Gospel Choirs and Choruses, with The New Prospect Singers, and with The Shropshire Singers.