A look at the history of the word ‘Woke.’

Woke is a term that either signals the awareness of systemic oppression or warns people of ideologies that may be seen as controlling or dangerous. 

Despite being a word used almost every day, this four-letter word has become so polarizing and divisive that some publications are giving tips on how to stray away from being woke. 

But why are people so divided on what it means to be woke? Why is it a good or bad thing? The term's history may invite some context that is worth considering should you find yourself in a heated debate about wokeness.

So where did this term originate from?

The first nod to the word woke came in 1925 when Marcus Garvey, a Black unificationist and activist who formed the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) in Jamaica in 1914, wrote in a letter, “Wake up Ethiopia! Wake up, Africa! Let us work towards the one glorious end of a free, redeemed and mighty nation. Let Africa be a bright star among the constellation of nations.”

Garvey was in heavy support of bringing Black people back to Africa. However, due to his being in favour of racial separatism, this made him a controversial figure in the Black community. Often, Garvey was cited for supporting the ideals of KKK members, that ‘blacks should be with blacks, and whites should be with whites.’ 

A few years later, the term would make its first appearance in mainstream media when in 1938, Huddie William Ledbetter (more popularly known as Lead Belly) released the track “Scottsboro Boys” in dedication to a group of Black boys that were falsely accused of raping two white women in Scottsboro, Alabama and were given the death penalty seven years earlier. 

Despite eight of the nine boys being sentenced to death, they all successfully averted the death penalty due to the efforts of groups such as the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and the Communist Party USA (CPUSA).

Following the song's recording, the musician allegedly used the term in a spoken afterword. 

Despite the Scottsboro boys being granted freedom and the Supreme Court ruling that they had not received their rights to counsel, which violated the 14th amendment, many of them would still suffer the consequences of the trial years later. 

Afterwards, woke began to make its rounds throughout Black communities, becoming a common household term. It wasn’t until 1962 that it first appeared in publications. William Melvin Kelly wrote an article for the New York Times titled “If You’re Woke, You Dig It,” which was meant to be a part of a glossary meant to decipher and understand African-American Vernacular English (AAVE).

And just like vine, duke, cool, cat, chick, and any other terms he listed, woke would be no different. 

Popularization during the turn of the century

At this point, woke was still being used primarily by members of Black communities across the globe. However, in 2008, the term would begin to enter online communities with the release of Erykah Badu’s track labelled “Master Teacher Medley,” which was meant to “imagine an idyllic future for African Americans but acknowledged the reality of the systemic issues they face and the pressure to always stay on alert.” 

This song is highly regarded as why woke and “stay woke” have become such popularized terms in the vocabulary of many. Years later, Badu would publish a tweet using the word to bring awareness to a band named “Pussy Riot” that was undergoing charges for “staging a queer, sexually charged protest-performance against Russia President Vladimir Putin,” as reported by Elijah C. Watson for Okayplayer. 

Despite this, the phrase remained lowkey. 

The 2010’s

The Death of Trayvon Martin and George Zimmerman’s trial sparked the rise of the famous activist group Black Lives Matter. At the time, the organization started as nothing more than a movement and a hashtag on Twitter. 

In 2012, Trayvon Martin was shot and killed by George Zimmerman in South Florida after calling the police to report a suspicious person. Despite being told to remain in his vehicle and not approach Martin, Zimmerman shot Martin dead. A year later, Zimmerman was found not guilty of the death of Trevon Martin.

The hashtag #StayWoke was used to unite others into fighting the initial verdict of the trial and was meant to show support to the family of Martin. Many online and mainly on Twitter used the hashtags #woke and #StayWoke when tweeting about the case and worldwide demonstrations. Celebrities such as Lebron James, Naomi Osaka, and many others also took to social media to speak on injustice and to support the community. 

Unfortunately, Martin would not be the only Black kid this happened to. In 2014, after being accused of robbing a convenience store, Michael Brown, who had no prior convictions or police records, was shot twice and killed by Officer Darren Wilson. Protestors went to the streets to showcase their distrust of the police and to speak out about police brutality. 

Despite public outcry for justice, Wilson was not indicted, and protestors were met with military-grade riot suppression gear.

Social Media response included many Black Lives Matter and Woke hashtags: here are a few examples from the NYT on the social media outcry following Michael Brown’s death.  

As written by Vox Media, “While the specifics of the Brown shooting involve just one teen and one police officer in a small St. Louis suburb, the circumstances surrounding Brown’s death replicate a fear commonly held by many parents — that Black lives matter less, particularly in the face of increasingly heavily armed police who have tremendous legal freedom in whether they can shoot a suspect they merely perceive as dangerous.” 

Woke still operated under the same function, but its newfound reach would be partly due to social media and people sharing their voices online, and it would become more and more popular. 

Armed with this language, organizations such as Black Lives Matter would rise in hopes of helping out the families afflicted by racially-motivated crimes within the Black community. 

It wouldn't be until 2016 that we would see a significant shift in the term's meaning. 

Colin Kaepernick, The Presidential Campaign, and a New Wokeness

In 2016 Former NFL star Colin Kaepernick took a knee during the national anthem, as he felt he could not stand with a country that actively tries to oppress Black people. 

Kaepernick and his teammate who kneeled with him, Eric Reid, received widespread hate, including some comments from presidential candidate Donald Trump. Many felt that the action was disrespectful to American values, the flag he lives under, and the people who live around it. He would later be blackballed from the NFL. 

In 2018, Kaepernick signed a multimillion-dollar deal with Nike and would even have a documentary about his life released in 2021. The Nike deal sparked outrage.  While this may not be the first instance of when woke’s meaning began to shift, it does represent the climate of North America at the time and the disconnect between what woke initially meant versus how the public started to use its meaning. 

During Trump's presidential campaign, his usage of fake news and fake media may have also been a contributing factor to the changes, but not the sole reason. People who were more liberal on the spectrum becoming more outspoken on issues that surround them or should be talked about on a larger stage, such as levels of government, classrooms, etc., were the other ingredients required to make a new woke soup.  

Two years after Kaepernick took his knee, a rally began asking for the removal of a Confederate statue in dedication to Robert E. Lee in Charlottesville, Virginia. This sparked discontent as many on the political right believed the figure should remain and fought to protect it. 

This resulted in a clash which saw demonstrations on both sides, vehicles purposely running into crowds, a rise in white supremacy in the area, and the death of a young woman. 

There was no real mention of woke in this instance. However, this event, alongside Kaepernick’s actions, represents important and foundational moments in North American history that showcase the climate and racial tension of the moment. 

History Onwards

Overtime, people on the right have begun to use the term sarcastically to oppose the ideas of those on the left, who the right believe spread fake news and force acceptance of values they disagree with, such as LGBTQ rights, reparations for Black communities, the defunding of police, and so on. 

If they weren’t complicit, they would be “cancelled” on media outlets or stripped of their job for voicing their opinions. This would be what is now known as ‘woke’ and ‘cancel culture.’ Very much “if you aren’t with us, then you’re against us. And if you’re against us, you can get silenced” mentality. 

Social media accounts dedicated to White/Blue/All Lives Matter Movements ‘anti-woke’ ways of thinking would become very popular during this time.

Down in the south, CNN host for “United Shades of America,” W. Kamau Bell, travelled to Arizona to ask if America had “gotten too woke.” Despite political views, many agreed that natural American history should be taught in classes, but only up to a certain extent. The extent being the history of treatment towards Indigenous people and the history of slavery. 

So what does woke mean?

Erykah Badu, in a recent interview with MSNBC on Master Teacher and the meaning behind wokeness, states that while she believes that the word did mean at one point “being aware, being in alignment with nature," she now feels that the word “doesn't belong to us anymore, and once something goes out into the world, it takes a life of its own. It has an energy of its own.” 

The term ‘woke’ was meant to unify people from all walks of life and help them become aware of the troubles surrounding them, like double standards and prejudice against you due to colour, way of life, or even current events. But now, echo chambers on both sides have clouded its meaning, rendering it nothing more than an insult or a superficial claim for clout. 

Woke is meant to be more than that.