VS. SLEEP:

When did woke become an adjective? In 1938, blues singer Huddie Ledbetter, aka Lead Belly, advised that black people "best stay woke, keep their eyes open," referring to racist violence. Black novelist William Melvin Kelley wrote a piece for The New York Times in 1962 titled, "If You're Woke You Dig It," on beatniks and slang within the Harlem jazz scene. Black nationalists and civil rights activists in the 20th century used the word to promote social and political consciousness.

How has the word evolved? It remained within the African American vernacular, sometimes used as slang for staying awake or being suspicious of a cheating partner. But in 2014, the phrase "stay woke" took off on social media following the police killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo. Black Lives Matter proponents adopted the phrase as a blanket call to social activism against racism, injustice, and police brutality.

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