WSOF FOUNDER
The We Shall Overcome Foundation was founded in 2012 by Isaias Gamboa, driven by his dedication to serving the poor, marginalized, and needy. These objectives are rooted in his faith-based values and beliefs. Born in San José, Costa Rica to parents of Spanish and African ancestry, although born of maternal Jewish lineage, Isaias was raised in Christian Catholic and Baptist traditions, the respective religious backgrounds of his parents. He describes himself as an avid student of the HOLY BIBLE and a follower of the love and service-based teachings of Jesus Christ. Isaias believes that demonstrating love, kindness, and compassion for the poor, oppressed, and needy, are true measures of divine faith, obedience, and discipleship.
MISSION WORK
Throughout his childhood, Isaias traveled through Mexico and many Central American countries with his family, where he witnessed his parents demonstrate their faith in God through acts of love, kindness, and compassion to those in need. Their example made a lasting impression on him. As an adult, he has traveled to eight Latin American countries in service of those in need. He has felt automatic weapons held to his head by military insurgents in war and drug-ravaged regions. In these same places, however, he has also witnessed beauty, love, hope, and joy in the faces, eyes, and hearts of abandoned street children, and the poor. He found these experiences life-affirming.
In 2010, while in Brazil to donate toys and clothing to the poor, Isaias formed a strong relationship with three orphanages.The suffering of these Afro-Brazilian children reminded him of the cruelty, neglect, abuse, and hardships suffered by Afro-American children in South Central Los Angeles, where he grew up. These and other formative experiences led him to establish the We Shall Overcome Foundation.
A LOVE OF MUSIC
Isaias began playing musical instruments as a young boy, nudged on by his Afro-Caribbean mother, who played the piano and sang Christian hymns to him before bed. As a young girl, she had been taught these hymns by her Jamaican mother and Christian missionaries, in Puerto Limón, Costa Rica, where she was born and raised. Before long, Isaias' affinity for music was noticed by his parents and later, discovered by the music industry.
While still in his teens, Isaias was discovered and signed to Arista Records under Clive Davis as a member of the boyband, "Real to Reel." In the early 90's he signed his second recording contract with Polydor Records as a member and producer of "Double Action Theatre". He was fortunate to have experienced a 20-year career as a songwriter, music publisher, musician, recording artist, music producer, arranger, and recording engineer. Gamboa has served as a voting member of the Grammy® organization and written more than 200 songs with Grammy® and multiple RIAA® Platinum and Gold awards for his work with artist ranging from 2Pac Shakur to The Temptations. He is also a 40+-year member of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP).
AUTHOR and DOCUMENTARY FILMMAKER
In 2010 Isaias was made aware that the iconic civil rights anthem, We Shall Overcome may have been misappropriated from an African American woman named Louise Shropshire by folk singer Pete Seeger and others in the 1960's. In 2012, after discovering her copyright and conducting extensive research, Gamboa wrote and published the book, "We Shall Overcome: Sacred Song on the Devil's Tongue". Shortly afterward, he was contacted by the US Library of Congress and told that a new subject category-"WE SHALL OVERCOME - HISTORY AND CRITICISM," had been created for his book. He also produced an accompanying self-narrated 4-CD audiobook by the same name.
The book and audiobook are definitive guides to the true history of the globally revered protest anthem, "We Shall Overcome". They also reveal Isaias' discovery of the extraordinary woman from Cincinnati, whom he believes to be the true original author of, We Shall Overcome, African American hymn writer Louise Shropshire. Shropshire was a close friend of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., civil rights activist Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth, and the "Father of Gospel Music"; Rev. Thomas A. Dorsey. Isaias' book and the audiobook also explore the historical attitudes of Black-exploitation, subjugation, and racism in America by non-culture-bearers.
In 2017 Isaias wrote and published, "ENTER THE PROMISED LAND: THE US AFRICAN AMERICAN RESTORATION ACT" The book is comprised of the text of a legislative initiative authored by Gamboa. The initiative proposes that, as a meaningful gesture of atonement for chattel slavery, Jim Crow, and institutional racism in the US; African Americans should be entitled to unencumbered College or vocational education including tuition, books, housing, and books.
WSOF WINS LANDMARK LAWSUIT
In 2016, the We Shall Overcome Foundation, led by Isaias Gamboa, filed a class-action lawsuit in the Southern District of New York, that sought to free the civil rights anthem, We Shall Overcome from the illegitimate control and exploitation of The Richmond Organization aka TRO Essex - a powerful music publishing company that had claimed control of the global protest and freedom anthem for nearly 60 years. In January 2018, the We Shall Overcome Foundation won its fight, and The Richmond Organization was ordered to relinquish all rights to We Shall Overcome, which is now in the public domain.
In 2023 Isaias wrote and published, "SO HELP ME, GOD: PETE SEEGER STOLE WE SHALL OVERCOME." The book is a summary of the evidence proving that Pete Seeger and The Richmond Organization committed fraud on the US copyright office. The book also contains copies of the critical documents obtained by Gamboa during his research and filed with the Southern District of New York that resulted in WSOF winning the We Shall Overcome Lawsuit.
In 2024 released a four-part documentary film series titled, "CLAIM THE SKY: WE SHALL OVERCOME." Produced, written, directed, and edited by Gamboa, the film tracks his ten-year journey of discovery into the hidden history of We Shall Overcome and features exclusive interviews with folk singer, Pete Seeger; Otis Williams (founder of the Temptations); Pat Boone; Director, Lee Daniels; the children of Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth and others. The series was released on YouTube on the We Shall Overcome Foundation channel and can be viewed free of charge.
EDUCATOR and ADVOCATE
For 20 years, Isaias Gamboa served his Los Angeles community as a licensed California real estate broker, and owner of Beautiful Homes Real Estate, where he held free workshops for first-time home buyers from poor and underserved communities.
In 2014, Isaias relocated from Los Angeles to Cincinnati, to complete the documentary film he was directing about We Shall Overcome. While there, he offered to restore an extraordinary residence that once served as a safe house for the Underground Railroad. Not long afterward, he came to observe the same racial and economic disparities he had seen in Los Angeles and decided to establish the Cincinnati Construction Academy, and later, Mr. G's Home-Care Bootcamp.
"CINCINNATI CONSTRUCTION ACADEMY" and "MR. G's HOME-CARE BOOTCAMP"
With the support of non-profit partners like the United Way and the Greater Cincinnati Foundation, The We Shall Overcome Foundation established two programs: the "CINCINNATI CONSTRUCTION ACADEMY," and "MR. G's HOME CARE BOOT CAMP".
The Cincinnati Construction Academy (CCA) provides pre-apprenticeship carpentry training, mentorship, and employment placement assistance to at-risk minority youth, and previously incarcerated adults who reside in the most vulnerable and under-served communities of Cincinnati, Ohio. These programs were born from, the Brother and Sisterhood of Minority Tradesmen, which in 2010, was established and led by Isaias in Los Angeles, California.
For its sustained efforts in training minority and underserved communities of color for apprenticeship jobs in the construction industry, in 2024 CCA was honored by the US DEPARTMENT OF LABOR as an APPRENTICESHIP AMBASSADOR.
Isaias Gamboa sits on the Cincinnati Mayor's HUMAN SERVICES ADVISORY COMMITTEE, and the Federally funded, BRENT SPENCE BRIDGE WORKFORCE ADVISORY BOARD.
MR. G's HOME CARE BOOT CAMPS
"Mr. G's Home Care Boot Camps" are rigorous weekend workshops, that provide residents of Cincinnati's underserved and underrepresented communities with a hands-on introduction to basic carpentry, hand tools, power tools, and home-care skills.
OTHER INTERESTS
Isaias Gamboa earned a California Real Estate Broker's License and founded the residential real estate brokerage and property management firm, Beautiful Homes Real Estate in San Marino California. He is an licensed and ordained Christian minister, certified carpenter, authorized OSHA 500 trainer, certified carpentry craft Instructor, certificated high school career-tech educator, avid photographer, licensed youth club soccer coach, nationally certified goalkeeping coach, and licensed FAA Commercial SUAS pilot.
