How I Got Over

This article is about the Gospel hymn. For the album by The Roots, seeHow I Got Over (album).

"How I Got Over"
SongbyClara Ward
Written	1951
Published	1951
Genre	Hymn
Songwriter(s)	Clara Ward

"How I Got Over"is aGospelhymncomposed and published in 1951 byClara Ward(1924–1973). Ward's original release sold 1 million copiesand is one of thebest-selling gospel songs of all time.Other notable recordings of this work have been made byMahalia Jackson(1951, winner of theGrammy Award for Best Soul Gospel Performancein 1976), and theBlind Boys of Alabama(2008 on their albumDown in New Orleans). It was performed by Mahalia Jackson at the historicMarch on Washington for Jobs and Freedomin 1963 before 250,000 people.

Aretha Franklinrecorded an uptempo alternate version of the song on her 1972 albumAmazing Grace,and this same arrangement was performed twice in the 1974 Sidney Poitier filmUptown Saturday Nightby the film's church choir with an alternate singer (no credits were given) and was produced byTom Scottwho also produced the film's soundtrack.

In 2018, Ward's original rendition was selected for preservation in theNational Recording Registryby theLibrary of Congressas being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

Inspirations

According to her sister, Willa Ward, the inspiration for this song was an experience Clara Ward, Willa, their mother Gertrude, and members of their singing group had while traveling in theracially segregatedSouthern Statesin 1951. En route toAtlanta,Georgia, they were besieged by a group of white men. The men were enraged that black women were riding in a luxury vehicle, aCadillac,and surrounded their car and terrorized them with racist taunts. The women were rescued when, in a burst of inspiration, Gertrude Ward feigned demonic possession, spewing curses and incantations at the men, who fled.