Traditional

“We Shall Overcome” is a traditional African American gospel, labor, and freedom song of collective development rather than a text by a single documented author. Its history is often connected with Charles Albert Tindley’s 1901 hymn “I’ll Overcome Some Day,” with later shaping through Charleston tobacco workers, Lucille Simmons, Zilphia Horton, Pete Seeger, Frank Hamilton, and Guy Carawan. These figures are best described as sources, transmitters, popularizers, or adapters within a living song tradition rather than sole authors of the song.