We Shall Overcome: Sacred Song On The Devil's Tongue

We Shall Overcome: Sacred Song On The Devil's Tongue
Author Isaias Gamboa (music producer)
Country United States
Language English
Subject We Shall Overcome, Louise Shropshire, Gospel music, Copyright law of the United States, Civil Rights Movement, African-American culture, Slavery in the United States, Folk Music, Martin Luther King, Jr., Fred ShuttlesworthPete Seeger, Intellectual property infringement, Music industry, African-American music
Genre Non-fiction
Published 2012 Amapola Publishers
Media type Print
Pages 298
ISBN 978-0-615475288
LC Class ML3918.P67 G36 2012
LCCN 2012-560833

We Shall Overcome: Sacred Song on the Devil's Tongue is a book by, Isaias Gamboa (music producer), a music producer, songwriter and arranger.[1][2][3][4][5][6]

The book discusses the history of the iconic freedom-song, "We Shall Overcome" and the biography of Louise Shropshire (1913-1993), who Gamboa asserts to be the "original author" of the song which became the anthem of the Civil Rights Movement. Louise Shropshire was a noted hymn-writer and close friend of the Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King Jr., Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth and Rev. Thomas A. Dorsey.

Among other things, the book reveals previously unpublished historical and musicological evidence of Louise Shropshire’s role in the creation of, "We Shall Overcome". Gamboa's book shows the US copyright to "We Shall Overcome" to have been claimed by music publisher, The Richmond Organization, Inc. since 1960 with no attribution to its original author. The book links Shropshire’s Gospel hymn, "If My Jesus Wills"--composed sometime between 1932 and 1942 and most commonly known as "I'll Overcome", to an substantially similar song known as, "We Will Overcome". According to the book, "We Will Overcome" was a clear adaptation of Shropshire's hymn, "If My Jesus Wills" by African American union workers in the late 1940s from which prima facie and other evidence indicates "We Shall Overcome" was derived.

The book concludes that the first and most important verse to We Shall Overcome; “We Shall Overcome, We Shall Overcome, We Shall Overcome Someday, Oh Deep In My Heart, I Do Believe, We Shall Overcome Someday”, have never been legally owned by Pete Seeger or The Richmond Organization, Inc. and should reside in the public domain.

Featuring more than 100 photographs, Gamboa's book also contextually explores African American religious culture, the historical attitudes of Black-exploitation, subjugation and racism in America and the economic exploitation of African American cultural production by non culture-bearers.[7][8]

Louise Shropshire's papers and artifacts were acquired in 2014 by the University of Cincinnati and are preserved in the Rare Books Archives.[9][10][11]

According to The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education, the Shropshire collection includes photographs, family memorabilia, letters, sheet music and other documents. The collection is held in UC’s Archives and Rare Books Library, located on the eighth floor of Blegen Library. [12][13]

References

  1. ↑ Isaias Gamboa. "We Shall Overcome: Sacred Song on the Devil's Tongue". Books.google.com. Retrieved 2016-02-18.
  2. ↑ We Shall Overcome: Sacred Song on the Devil's Tongue. ISBN 978-0615475288.
  3. ↑ David Neff. "The Religious Roots of Protest: How Justice Movements Have Coopted The Church's Music". Christianity Today. Retrieved 2015-03-21.
  4. ↑ Dan Yount (6 November 2015). "We Shall Overcome Should Belong To Everyone". Cincinnati Herald. Retrieved 2015-12-28.
  5. ↑ David Holthaus (28 August 2013). "Book: Cincinnati musician wrote 'We Shall Overcome'". USA Today. Retrieved 2013-09-11.
  6. ↑ Samantha Ofole-Prince (13 October 2012). "Costa Rican Author, Isaias Gamboa, Pens Controversial Book". CaribPress. Retrieved 2013-05-09.
  7. ↑ Joel M Beall. "'We Shall Overcome' belongs to Cincinnati". Cincinnati Enquirer/Cincinnati.com. Retrieved 2015-02-15.
  8. ↑ Kimberly Milhoan. "One Woman, Three Words: "We Shall Overcome"". ACLU press release). Retrieved 2015-03-09.
  9. ↑ Dawn Fuller. "UC Historical Collection Reveals the Songwriter Who United the Voice of the National Civil Rights Movement". University of Cincinnati press release).
  10. ↑ "Inspiring Words". Ohio Magazine. Retrieved 2015-12-28.
  11. ↑ "Finding Aid for the Louise Shropshire Family Papers". Retrieved 2015-12-28.
  12. ↑ "University of Cincinnati acquires the collections of Louise Shropshire". The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education. Retrieved 2015-02-15.
  13. ↑ "Um Cruzado No Século 21". Raça Brasil. Retrieved 2015-12-28.
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