“We Shall Overcome” one of the most powerful songs of the 20th century. It started out as a local in church song and later evolved into the anthem of the civil rights movement. It inspired one of the greatest freedom movements in U.S. history. "We Shall Overcome" has it roots in African American music from the early 20th century. It was first used as a activist song when striking tobacco workers in Charleston, S.C., who chanted together on their picket line. The song was later discovered by the young activists of the early 1950s. These young activists from the Black civil rights movement popularized the song which soon became movement’s unofficial anthem. The lyrics were sung during protests and sit-ins. It was sung through police brutality
