Most of us have heard the term “woke” in today’s political debates—whether in the halls of Congress or on the campaign trail. It’s a politically charged word that gets used a lot, often with very different meanings. According to Wikipedia, “woke” originated in African American English and originally referred to being aware of racial prejudice and discrimination. In the United States, the term took on political meaning in the 1970s and later expanded to include broader social inequalities and ideas commonly associated with the American Left.
Woke is an adjective derived from African-American English used since the 1930s or earlier to refer to awareness of racial prejudice and discrimination, often in the construction stay woke. The term acquired political connotations by the 1970s and gained further popularity in the 2010s with the hashtag #staywoke. Over time, woke came to be used to refer to a broader awareness of social inequalities such as sexism and denial of LGBTQ rights. Woke has also been used as shorthand for some ideas of the American Left involving identity politics and social justice, such as white privilege and reparations for slavery in the United States.
– Source: Wikipedia
This is how the Merriam-Webster dictionary describes its usage:
Woke developed in African American English and has been used to describe a state of active attentiveness to issues of racial and social justice since the mid-late 20th century. It gained widespread use and attention beginning in 2014 as part of the Black Lives Matter movement, and eventually developed pejorative use describing people, policies, practices, etc., seen as too politically liberal or progressive.
Sam Hindman of Mental Floss explains that the meaning of the word “woke” has become unclear, even though it is used frequently. In his article, he discusses the origin of the word, how people use it today, and how it has evolved into a politically charged symbol in the culture wars.
For additional details, please refer to the original articles listed below.