Carawan passed away on Saturday (02May15) at his home in Tennessee after a battle with dementia, according to the New York Times. No more details about his death were known as WENN went to press.

The singer did not write the song, but his performances of the track in the 1960s helped it become an anthem of America's civil rights movement. Carawan's version was reportedly created with the help of fellow folk singer and activist Pete Seeger, and it was regularly sung at marches and rallies, including the famous walk from Selma to Montgomery in Alabama led by Martin Luther King, Jr. It was later performed by Tiananmen Square protesters in China and at the fall of Berlin Wall in Germany in the 1990s.

Royalties from the recording of We Shall Overcome continue to be donated to a fund which supports social programs in America's south.