<P> The modern version of the song was first said to have been sung by tobacco workers led by Lucille Simmons during a 1945 strike in Charleston , South Carolina . In 1947 , the song was published under the title `` We Will Overcome '' in an edition of the People 's Songs Bulletin ( a publication of People 's Songs , an organization of which Pete Seeger was the director ) , as a contribution of and with an introduction by Zilphia Horton , then - music director of the Highlander Folk School of Monteagle , Tennessee ( an adult education school that trained union organizers ) . Horton said she had learned the song from Simmons , and she considered it to be her favorite song . She taught it to many others , including Pete Seeger , who included it in his repertoire , as did many other activist singers , such as Frank Hamilton and Joe Glazer , who recorded it in 1950 . </P>
who validated the civil rights movement by proclaiming we shall overcome
Lucille Simmons