The most successful recording of the song was the pop version by Three Dog Night in 1972, when it reached number one on both the Billboard Hot 100 and Billboard Easy Listening charts. Billboard ranked it as the No. 63 song for 1972. This was one of the few hits for Three Dog Night on which Danny Hutton sang the lead vocals.

The song was first recorded by Pete Seeger in 1956, followed by Sammy Davis Jr. in 1957.

The song's author Earl Robinson released his own recording in 1957, on the Folkways album A Walk in the Sun and other Songs and Ballads. (The album title refers to a song written for the 1945 film A Walk in the Sun.)

Reggae groups The Maytones, from Jamaica, and Greyhound, from the UK, both recorded the song in 1971, the latter achieving a UK top ten hit.

Having heard the Greyhound version, Three Dog Night covered the song and included it on their 1972 album Seven Separate Fools. Their version of the song peaked at number one on the U.S. pop chart on September 16, 1972, and topped the easy listening chart on October 7.Billboard ranked it as the No. 63 song for 1972.

The song was inspired by the United States Supreme Court decision of Brown v. Board of Education (1954), which outlawed racial segregation of public schools.

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