well, a month after the founding of sncc, this song was sung throughout the whole south.uiet way, it was taking confidence. you can kill me, you can beat me, but i know we shall overcome. (scott-mclaughlin) in the prisons, they would sing songs. when they we're being beaten by the dogs, they would sing songs. and you'd have to ask yourself what was this thing about, why were they singing these songs as they're being beaten? and the reason why they sang the songs was just like when the priest chanted gregorian chants or when a buddhist has a mantra. or when you say, "hail mary mother of god" in the catholic religion. it was a means of going inside of yourself to find the strength within to deal with the outside world. one of my mentors was bill kunseler. there was one scene he told me about when he was in birmingham where he was representing dr. martin luther king. and they had come from a demonstration or rally, and king had been told that there were men looking to kill him that night. and they drove up to a house, and bill and king were staying in the house together with