| We Shall Overcome
Narrated by Harry Belafonte We Shall Overcome begins in an isolated wood frame church deep in the Sea Islands of South Carolina where spirituals like "I Will Overcome" helped blacks endure the long and brutal years of slavery. Veterans of a 1945 tobacco strike in nearby Charleston explain how it seemed natural to make "We Will Overcome" their rallying cry. At Myles Horton's Highlander Center in Tennessee, white folk singers like Pete Seeger and Guy Carawan first encountered the song from the strikers and changed the lyrics to "We Shall Overcome." These "Peoples' troubadours" began teaching the song to the young activists of the Civil Rights movement. Over historical footage of themselves during the Sixties, the SNCC Freedom Singers. Julian Bond and Andrew Young reminisce about what this song meant during the sit-ins, voter registration drives and protest marches of those heroic years. We hear popular folk singers Peter, Paul and Mary introduce the song to audiences across the country and Joan Baez sing it at the 1963 March on Washington. The film concludes with an inspiring montage of peace, antinuclear and environmental activists around the world singing "We Shall Overcome." In one moving scene, Bishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa sings the song and adds. "When we sing 'We Shall Overcome,' what we will overcome is injustice, is apartheid, is separation - all that is dehumanizing." Other films have
chronicled the events and personalities of the Civil rights movement;
We Shall Overcome goes directly to the unique vision which moved
millions. As Bernice Reagon says, "Every time you hear the song...you're
talking about people coming together, organizing, so they can transform
their lives." |
NATIONAL EMMY WINNER "This extraordinary
song remains at the heart of an extraordinary movement and receives
here the acclaim it deserves." "A unique
film that highlights the linkage between social action and music. If
you believe that Eyes
on the Prize captured the history of the Civil Rights movement, then
you should also own We Shall Overcome." "One of the few
films to trace the cultural origins of the Civil Rights movement." "An excellent
study of how American folk culture can provide the songs and symbols
around which great social movements define themselves." Producers: Jim Brown,
Ginger Brown, Harold Levanthal and George Stoney Video
Purchase: $195
|
We
Shall Overcome became the anthem that set America marching towards
racial equality. By tracing the sources of song, this pathbreaking film
uncovers the diverse strands of social history which flowed together
to form the Civil Rights movement.
