What is the History of “We Shall Overcome”? Music History by da jack hayford - April 16, 2016May 28, 20230 The classic folk standard "We Shall Overcome" doesn't stay out of the news for very long. It has been a controversial "Public Domain" song for nearly a century. "It began as a folk work song, became a hymn, and then was used politically for the first time on the picket lines