Origin of “woke”

It used to merely denote the past participle of the verb 'wake.' While this has evolved dramatically in recent years, the present definition of the word is not new in the United States. In an article headlined "If you're woke, you dig it," African-American novelist William Melvin Kelley penned the first documented use of the word under its new definition. In 1972, a character in Barry Beckham's play Garvey Lives! Declares he'll "remain woke" thanks to the work of pan-Africanist Marcus Garvey, saying, "I've been sleeping all my life." And now that Mr. Garvey has jolted me awake, I intend to stay awake. And I'm going to assist him in awakening other black people."

The evolution of ‘Woke’

It used to merely denote the past participle of the verb 'wake.' While this has evolved dramatically in recent years, the present definition of the word is not new in the United States. According to Merriam-Webster, "wake is a slang term that is slipping into the mainstream from some variations of a dialect called African American Vernacular English (also termed AAVE)." "Wake is frequently expressed as awake in AAVE, as in, 'I was sleeping, but now I'm woke.'" After Erykah Badu used the lyric "I keep woke" frequently in her 2008 song "Master Teacher," which opens, "I am known to stay awake," the meaning seemed to have shifted.

Loading full article...