Writer Colson Whitehead paints a picture of the song’s popularity in Sag Harbor, his semiautobiographical novel about summering in the Black beach community. “At any given moment, someone was playing ‘Ain’t No Stoppin’ Us Now.’ It was the Black national anthem. The disco version of ‘We Shall Overcome,’ courtesy of Mr. McFadden & Mr. Whitehead. It came out of our cars as we drove to the store for last-minute paper plates and ketchup, issued triumphantly from sand-flecked boom boxes on threadbare beach towels, blared out of backyard patios from ancient amps plugged into bright orange extension
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