C.F. Richardson, the editor and founder of the Black newspaper The Houston Informer, urged Black readers in 1924 to "stay woke" and pay attention to opportunities to make their lives better.

At far left, ‘Stay Woke’ is the headline of Houston Informer editor C.F. Richardson’s column for the May 24, 1924 edition of the paper.

I imagine few people know the term "stay woke," which has become a conservative battle cry against any diversity efforts, has roots in Houston, one of the nation's most diverse cities.

The evidence appears on the front page of a 1924 edition of the Houston Informer, a prominent Black newspaper in Texas, with an article titled, "Stay Woke."

It's a discovery recently made by classical music historian Paul Schleuse, a Houston native and Rice University graduate. During the pandemic, he researched the history of Houston's Black classical musicians for his new book. After reading Richardson's article, Schleuse looked up references to "woke" and "stay woke," but found no mention of it before the 1930s. It's certainly not in most history books.

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