Countless numbers of us grew up singing songs written or co-written by Pete Seeger. “If I Had A Hammer”, “Where Have All The Flowers Gone”, “Turn, Turn, Turn” and so many others that he made popular such as “We Shall Overcome”. He said he just changed one word – he changed ‘will’ to ‘shall’ and it became the anthem of generations fighting for their civil rights.
Seeger is famous, of course, for making “We Shall Overcome” a civil and human rights anthem. The story of where he found that song is told below by historian Christopher Phelps. It is excerpted, by permission, from Christopher Phelps, "Lefts Old and New: Sixties Radicalism, Now and Then," in A New Insurgency: The Port Huron Statement and Its Times, eds. Howard Brick and Gregory Parker (Ann Arbor, Michigan: University of Michigan Press, forthcoming).
Panthers for Peace (P4P) brings the Alternatives to Violence Project Curriculum to Florida International University. This program can transform how people view the world and themselves as it relates to conflict resolution, violence, and peace. The Alternatives to Violence Project (AVP) workshops have been provided in prisons, schools and communities throughout the United States, Canada and various other countries for over 35 years.
Florida International University
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Email: labor@fiu.edu
Center for Labor Research & Studies