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In honor of Black History Month…
“Woke” is an appropriated term that has become a colloquialism loosely meaning “having a moral compass” in the face of systemic oppression. Its original usage was “stay woke,” unintentionally coined by blues musician Lead Belly.
In a 1938 he was recording his song “Scottsboro Boys,” ending it with spoken word about the song’s meaning.
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The Scottsboro boys were a group of nine young Black men who were falsely accused of raping two white women in Alabama seven years earlier, simply for being Black and having been found on a train car with them.
In his monologue he says “I advise everybody, be a little careful when they go along through there—best *stay woke*, keep their eyes open” (“there,” referring to Alabama).
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So his use of “stay woke” was a message specifically directed at Black folks, to make sure they stayed alert and safe in perilous places.
The appropriated version of “woke” vs Lead Belly’s version are in the same arena, but their nuanced difference is meaningful.
More:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lead_Belly#%22Stay_woke%22
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(Update, per @Mabande: Lead Belly was the first known recorded use of the phrase which was likely used well before this. https://mastodon.social/@Mabande/114047223200803843)
@markwyner Just a minor correction: Lead Belly didn't coin it, his is only the first recorded instance of it, and woke/stay woke with that meaning had probably been around a while longer.
@markwyner@mas.to@Mabande oh, I see. You’re right. They explicitly say that. My brain processed that information differently. Thank you for clarifying that. 