The History Of 'Woke' And Its Shreveport Origins

It feels like you can’t watch the news or scroll through social media these days without hearing the word "woke". It gets thrown around constantly, often as a lazy insult for anything someone happens to disagree with. A movie, a company, a politician, you name it. The word has been used so much in so many different ways that for most people, it’s lost any real meaning it once had.

But the word did have a very powerful, specific meaning at one point. It was more than just the dictionary definition of waking up from sleep. It was a term born from injustice, a warning to the wise, and a concept that has its roots in Shreveport, Louisiana. That’s right, the entire modern political debate around this one little word can be traced back to a local music legend.

The Shreveport Legend Behind the Term Woke

Long before the internet arguments and cable news debates, there was Huddie Ledbetter. Most people know him by his iconic stage name, Lead Belly. He was a trailblazing musician from the Shreveport area, whose influence on American music is almost impossible to overstate.

This is a man whose work inspired everyone from Johnny Cash and Bob Dylan, to Nirvana and The Beatles. He was a master of the twelve string guitar, and his folk and blues songs told vivid stories about life, love, hardship, and justice.

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Right in downtown Shreveport, near the courthouse, there’s a statue honoring Lead Belly, a permanent reminder of his giant legacy. He is without a doubt one of the most important cultural figures to ever come out of the Ark-La-Tex. It was through his powerful storytelling in music that he first gave the word “woke” its secondary meaning, one that would echo for nearly a century.

What 'Stay Woke' Originally Meant

The year was 1938. Lead Belly was recording a song about a horrific and infamous case of racial injustice known as “The Scottsboro Boys.”

The song tells the true story of nine black teenagers who were falsely accused of assaulting two white women in Alabama. The case was a national tragedy and a glaring example of the dangers Black Americans faced in the Jim Crow South.

At the end of his recording, Lead Belly wasn’t just singing...he was speaking directly to his audience, issuing a piece of solemn advice for Black people traveling through dangerous parts of the country. His recorded line says it all...

“So I advise everybody, be a little careful when they go along through there…best stay woke, keep their eyes open.”

This is the very first recorded use of the term in this context. It wasn't a political buzzword; it was a literal warning. To "stay woke" meant to stay vigilant, to be aware of the potential for racist threats and systemic injustice. It was a survival tactic.

The Word's Long Journey From Shreveport To The World

For decades, the phrase remained primarily within Black culture, a shorthand for social and political awareness. It saw a resurgence during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s and 70s. But it wasn’t until the 2010s, with the rise of social media, that the word exploded into the mainstream American consciousness. This time, the term was revitalized as an insult of sorts.

Photo by Hesham Elsherif/Getty Images

The modern use of the term has been co-opted by political commentators, and politicians, who stripped it of its historical context. They turned a term of awareness into a vague insult. Now, it’s used as a catchall to dismiss ideas without having to explain why.