I think you meant 2017 not 1917! Found this on Medium you might be interested, I'm surprised the Fox article didn't mention it:

"The term “stay woke” is African-American Vernacular English (AAVE) for the standard English “stay awake” (by the way, don’t call it Ebonics, that’s no longer woke). For instance, there is a 1938 Leadbelly song “Sottsboro Boys” with the line, “I advise everybody to be a little careful when they go along through there, stay woke, keep their eyes open”.

What happened in Scottsboro, Alabama? Nine African-American males were accused of raping two white women in the 30s. They were almost lynched — the National Guard had to be called in to prevent that. The legal battle that ensued for almost a decade and ultimately resulted in the boys’ release can be seen as perhaps the birth of the American civil rights movement in the South."