We shall overcome

Human Rights is the present topic of our Citizenship lessons. To finish this unit, we are studying M. Luther King´s life by reading some  parts of I have a dream (his famous speech). We have listened to Pride, in the name of love, as we did last year.
Here you have another historical song called We shall overcome. It stands for the Civil Rights Movement and M. Luther King recited the words from the song in his final sermon delivered on in Memphis before he was shot. "We shall overcome" was sung days later by over fifty thousand attendees at his funeral.

We shall overcome. We shall overcome. Deep in my heart I do believe we shall overcome. And I believe it because somehow the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice. We shall overcome because Carlyle is right; "no lie can live forever". We shall overcome because William Cullen Bryant is right; "truth crushed to earth will rise again". We shall overcome because James Russell Lowell is right:

Truth forever on the scaffold, Wrong forever on the throne. Yet that scaffold sways the future, And behind the then unknown Standeth God within the shadow, Keeping watch above his own.

With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith, we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith, we will be able to speed up the day. And in the words of prophecy, every valley shall be exalted. And every mountain and hill shall be made low. The rough places will be made plain and the crooked places straight. And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together. This will be a great day. This will be a marvelous hour. And at that moment—figuratively speaking in biblical words—the morning stars will sing together and the sons of God will shout for joy

 The video is a version that Bruce Springsteen recorded in London during his 2006 Seeger Sesions Tour.

An optional task for the portfolio consists on looking for more information about this song.