Hernando: President didn't pen protest song after all

President didn't pen protest song after all

The county issues an incorrect resolution year after year until someone points out that Lyndon Johnson didn't pen a popular song.

By WILL VAN SANT

BROOKSVILLE -- Lyndon Baines Johnson is remembered as a profoundly gifted and colorful politician who led the country during one of its most wrenching periods.

For all his attributes, he is not generally regarded as a writer of popular song.

But for several years, longer than anyone can recall, Hernando County government has been crediting the 36th president with authorship of We Shall Overcome, one of the most familiar protest songs of the Civil Rights era.

On Tuesday, in the annual recognition of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, County Commissioner Diane Rowden read the same old resolution that has been around for years, then presented it to the local NAACP president. The proclamation read, in part: "President Johnson united with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., when the President created the song and slogan of the Civil Rights Movement, ". . . we shall overcome."

When it was pointed out that the song was actually written at the turn of the last century by Charles Albert Tindley, a black Methodist minister, commissioners were unable to explain the error.

"I don't have a good answer," said Commission Chairwoman Betty Whitehouse. "It really shows we need to be more diligent."

According to county administration office manager Alice Gura, using the same resolutions year in and year out with a simple change of date is common. She could not say where the incorrect resolution came from, only that it had been around for some time. Gura said it was an honest mistake that would quickly be corrected.

She was right. Near the end of the commission meeting -- after having had the mistake brought to their attention -- board members passed a new resolution in support of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, this time with the error stricken.

The corrected resolution is to be provided to the NAACP, whose representatives were not available for comment.

-- Will Van Sant covers Hernando County government and can be reached at 754-6127. Send e-mail to vansant@sptimes.com .