We Shall Overcome

We Shall Overcome (2013) is a historical picture book for young children written by Debbie Levy and illustrated by Vanessa Brantley-Newton. Levy traces the history of the song “We Shall Overcome” from its origins in slavery, through the American Civil Rights Movement, to its present-day popularity among protesters worldwide. On her website, Levy explains that the song has come to represent “the struggle for equality, freedom, peace, and justice around the world.” Back matter in We Shall Overcome includes a timeline of the song’s influence from the 1800s through 2008, as well as a list of resources, reading links, and websites where readers can hear the song performed. We Shall Overcome was named a Jane Addams Children’s Book Award Honor Book for Younger Children in 2014 and listed as an NCSS Notable Social Studies Trade Book the same year.

The song “We Shall Overcome” was originally derived from “I’ll Overcome Some Day,” a hymn written in 1900 by Charles Albert Tindley, a Methodist minister known as one of the “founding fathers of American gospel music.” In 1945, striking tobacco workers sang what is believed to be the first contemporary version of the song, “We Will Overcome.” Folk singer and civil rights activist Pete Seeger later changed the “will” to “shall” and helped popularize the song in the 1960s as a symbol of nonviolent protest, change, and unity.

Levy juxtaposes her instructive free verse text with the song lyrics to “We Shall Overcome.” Set in a bold, larger font, the curving lyrics often span both pages of the two-page illustrative spreads. Brantley-Newton’s collage-style illustrations are big, bright, and energetic.



We Shall Overcome starts “back in slavery times” when, Levy explains, people worked hard with “no freedom, no fairness / no choice and no chance.” Singing helped assert their humanity and assuage their suffering. The accompanying illustration depicts African American children and adults picking cotton, singing with eyes closed to the lyrics “Oh, deep in my heart I do believe I’ll be all right some day.” Levy takes the song through the Civil War, noting that although slavery ended, African Americans were still not truly free: they were still excluded and attacked and unfairly segregated. African Americans began to protest using the church song “I Will Overcome,” changing the words to “We Will Overcome” to reflect their solidarity. The text is paired with a picture of women marching in protest, wearing sashes that read, “We will win our rights,” and “We will win this fight.”

The song gets the attention of Martin Luther King who “took the song with him in his heart / everywhere he traveled.” The song changes to “We Shall Overcome” as Dr. King watches a singing group of protesters. Levy describes how students fought racial hatred with non-violent sit-ins: waiting futilely for service in restaurants until they were ultimately arrested. She recounts how the vocal group, The Freedom Singers, traveled across the United States performing “We Shall Overcome,” to educate people about the Civil Rights Movement and to help inspire change. For this text, Brantley-Newton’s illustration features a quartet of singers superimposed over a map of the United States and the lyrics, “We are not alone.”

Levy details the 1963 March on Washington; “the biggest gathering of people / united in support of fairness for African Americans.” Illuminating this text is a line of singers holding hands and singing in front of the Lincoln Memorial. Although laws changed, “race hatred stayed strong.” Levy spotlights President Lyndon Baines Johnson’s 1965 televised speech to America in which he quoted lyrics from the song, “We must overcome the crippling legacy of bigotry and injustice. And we shall overcome.” This text is paired with an illustration depicting an African American family in their living room watching Johnson on television.



“We Shall Overcome” makes its way around the world. Levy relates how South Africans used the song in their own fight for freedom from an unjust, all-white government. For this illustration, singers are silhouetted against an orange sun and the sprawling backdrop of the African savanna, with lyrics reading, “Black and white together some day.” Levy describes how other countries, including East Germany, China, Northern Ireland, Bangladesh, and “wherever people worked / for a better life,” took up the song.

In the United States, presidents come and go, freedom continues to grow, and finally the people elect an African American president. At his inauguration, President Obama stands in front of a colorful, singing crowd with the lyrics “Oh, deep in my heart I do believe We shall overcome some day.” Levy concludes that there are still prejudice and injustice in the world, and so the song continues. She writes, “We sing to declare that—yes! we are all human beings, / deserving of respect, sharing the same planet, / the same future, / together.” The final illustration depicts a diverse group of young people playing the guitar and singing together.