Where did the term woke come from?

Figurative woke—being socially and politically awake, or aware—starts emerging in Black English at least by the 1940s. A 1943 article in The Atlantic quoted a Black United Mine Workers official from 1940 playing with woke in a metaphor for social justice: “Waking up is a damn sight than going to sleep, but we’ll stay woke up longer.”

By the 1960s, woke could more generally mean “well-informed” in Black English, but it still strongly aligned with political awareness, especially in the context of the Civil Rights Movement in the 1950–60s and appearing in the phrase stay woke. The term was notable enough to prompt a 1962 New York Times article commenting on Black slang, titled “If You’re Woke You Dig It.”

A 1972 play about the Black nationalist Marcus Garvey, Garvey Lives! by Barry Beckham, notably used woke for awareness of racial injustice in the Black community: “I been sleeping all my life. And now that Mr. Garvey done woke me up, I’m gon stay woke. And I’m gon help him wake up other Black folk.”

Singer and activist Erykah Badu is credited with helping to revive woke in her 2008 song “Master Teacher,” whose chorus dreams of a better, uplifted world.

After Trayvon Martin, a young unarmed Black man, was shot dead in February 2012, many in the Black community issued calls to stay woke to the discrimination and injustice Black people face in the U.S., particularly in the form of police brutality.

Especially under the hashtag “#staywoke” on social media, woke took off in 2014 with the Black Lives Matter movement, ignited by the tragic shooting of two other young, unarmed Black men by police officers. Among activists, woke and stay woke were cries not just to be aware of racial injustice, but to organize and mobilize to do something about it.

Woke was quickly appropriated by mainstream white culture in the mid-2010s, to the criticism of many Black observers. In many instances, woke did spread in keeping with its activist spirit, referring to awareness of other forms of injustice, such as sexism, anti-gay sentiment, and white privilege.

In other cases, though, the force of woke was diluted as it became the subject of humorous memes or just casually used as a label for anyone who is “with the times,” not necessarily engaged in the fight for justice and equality. This dilution especially occurred on woke Twitter, with major brands appearing to capitalize on social justice to appeal to millennials.

Now, stay woke is pretty abundant in mainstream media … everyone from Childish Gambino to Netflix is cashing in on the phrase’s popularity but also spreading its 100% important and influential meaning, as well.