"Keep Your Eyes on the Prize" is a folk song that became influential during the American civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s.
Although the song was composed as a hymn well before World War I, the lyrics to this version were written by civil rights activist Alice Wine in 1956. It is based on the traditional song, "Gospel Plow", also known as "Hold On", "Keep Your Hand on the Plow", and various permutations thereof. The title is a reference to the Bible verse in Phillipians 3:17 "keep your eyes on those who live as we do" and verse 14, "I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus."
Notable recordings include those by Duke Ellington featuring Mahalia Jackson, Odetta, Bob Dylan, Pete Seeger, Bruce Springsteen, and Mavis Staples.
The noted 1987 PBS documentary series about the civil rights movement, Eyes on the Prize, was named for the song.
Read more about Keep Your Eyes On The Prize: Published Versions
Famous quotes containing the words eyes and/or prize:
“There are few things more dreadful than dealing with a man who knows he is going under, in his own eyes, and in the eyes of others. Nothing can help that man. What is left of that man flees from what is left of human attention.”
—James Baldwin (1924–1887)
“He saw, he wish’d, and to the prize aspir’d.
Resolv’d to win, he meditates the way,
By force to ravish, or by fraud betray;
For when success a lover’s toil attends,
Few ask, if fraud or force attain’d his ends.”
—Alexander Pope (1688–1744)