"Woke" A Brief History

The term "woke" originated from the idea of Black consciousness awakening in the early 20th century. It gained popularity through music and the Black Lives Matter movement. However, opposition from right-wing political and religious leaders led to the weaponization and whitewashing of the term. They associated it with critical race theory and claimed it was indoctrinating white students. This opposition has resulted in laws prohibiting the teaching of Black history and the contributions of African Americans. Despite this, the younger generation is embracing the term and fighting for its original meaning. Hello everyone, and welcome. My name is Manny, and I'm a current AUCU student. Today in my first attempt at creating a podcast, I would like to discuss the term woke, where it came from, and how it's been used as a weapon against the Black community, which includes whitewashing facts about Black African history and the contributions of the African diaspora in the United States. Despite the fact that white people have appropriated the term after it was first coined by Black activists, the Black community upholds the term's original meaning. Though there is a lot of information that I might not be able to get to, I will highlight points of origins of the term, how it became mainstream in the U.S., the uproars of its weaponization, and who is behind the opposition. Though the battle to bring the term back to its original significance will be tough, we have a new generation of young people ready for the fight. The origins of woke. The earliest known example of wokeness as a concept revolved around the idea of Black consciousness waking up, to a new reality of activist framework and dates back to the early 20th century. In 1923, a collection of aphorisms and ideas by Jamaican philosopher and social activist Marcus Garvey included the summons, Wake Up Ethiopia, Wake Up Africa, as a call to global Black citizens to become more socially and politically conscious. In the song, Scottbury Boys, a protest song by blues musicians, Lead Belly, from 1938, the phrase, stay woke, reappeared as part of the spoke after a few years later. The song served as a wake up call and a cautionary tale for Black Americans who were visiting states with a strong white supremacy culture, basically those in the southern states. Following the success of Lead Belly's song, the term woke started to spread throughout the American political and judicial landscape and into other musical genres from the 1960s to the present. The early Black Lives Matter protest demonstrations were greatly impacted by it after that. Leaders on the right of the political and religious spectrum consequently had something to offer their supporters that they could support. This is the point at which the term woke was introduced to those followers as something to be feared and it was suggested that a declaration of war against woke was necessary to preserve their political and religious beliefs. How did woke become mainstream? The 2014 Ferguson Uprising appeared to mark the beginning of a significant change in the lives of those who recognized themselves as being woke. Activists who supported the uprising urged people to stay angry and stay awake. Many individuals connected the mainstreaming of wokeness to the uprising of 2014 and the time when Black Lives Matter movement had gained significant support. You can also observe a sharp rise in social media followers during this time, which contributed to the woke message becoming more widely known. Additionally, artists and activists added wokeness to the work of music and films and arts. Due to the increase in popularity and acceptance of the term woke, some current and future political leaders joined the movement while others opposed it. A short time after the Black Lives movement had gained significant traction, opposition to the term woke would become apparent. The same individuals who opposed the movement would also persuade the white religious leaders to join the fight against the alleged woke agenda. The battle the opposition started against wokeness would soon be taken over by right-wing everyday Americans who in most cases lacked education about the term or its definition. They were fed lies and scare tactics to start an attack on black history, black people in general, and other minorities. The weaponization and whitewashing of woke. Subjects like the teaching of critical race theory, distorting the truth about racism in America, and those who were enslaved are some fights that the right-wing political party and its supporters have attached wokeness to. Regarding critical race theory, the claim right-wingers are making is that liberal educators and schools are indoctrinating white students to feel bad about being white for past events, and that it brings too much of a concentration to racism into classrooms. Additionally, they are stating that the subject is taught to all school grades, which is factualized. Opposition to CRT in many ways obscures the history, identity, and horrific treatment of black African Americans and their ancestors. Due to this opposition, laws have been passed in some states that among other things prohibit the teachings or the introduction of publications that depict how minorities including African Americans and African captives have been treated throughout U.S. history. One recent decision that resulted from this opposition is also a particular well-known woke opponent has the state's educational board ordering teachers to teach that black captives during their transatlantic slave trade gained skills that were advantageous to them personally. The statement and new lesson plans are causing an uproar and are also seen as another attempt to whitewash the history of black African captives during the trade. These types of comments make the suggestion that captives gained these traits like they had a choice. One major argument against these kinds of claims is that if black captives of African diaspora were successful in obtaining these advantageous traits, why weren't they treated like regular citizens? Why were they not given citizenship? Why were the white captive owners the only ones to benefit financially and prosper out of these labors? So who is behind woke weaponization and how does our future look? Currently woke is opposed by more than 100 conservative businesses. These include organizations supported by the Koch brothers, the Heritage Foundation, the Idaho Freedom Foundation, the American Legislative Exchange Council, as well as Christian and evangelical religious organizations. So what can we anticipate when woke is being met with so much opposition? Despite the threats and laws that have been created to whitewash woke and the contributions and disparities of black African diaspora and their African American descendants, we do have a brave new generation that is teaching themselves what woke really means and are in the support of the term.