The Wide Awakes
The Wide Awakes is a community organization that promotes left-of-center policy through voter advocacy, political activism, and support for specific initiatives such as opposing immigration enforcement actions by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The group was named after a movement of the same name established in the 1860s that supported the presidential candidacy of Abraham Lincoln and other early members of the Republican Party. 1
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The group was established in 2020 by For Freedoms PAC co-founders Hank Willis Thomas, Eric Gottesman, Michelle Woo, and Wyatt Gallery. Cole Allen, who was indicted for attempting to assassinate President Donald Trump during the April 2026 White House Correspondents Dinner, has also been accused of being an alleged member of the Wide Awakes, a claim Wide Awakes organizers have rejected as false. 2 3
Background
The Wide Awakes movement founded in 2020 was named after the group of the same name established in the 1860s which supported President Abraham Lincoln and the early Republican Party. 1 The recreated Wide Awakes claimed to have roughly 500,000 members by October 2020. 4
The modern version of the group was founded by For Freedoms PAC co-founders Hank Willis Thomas, Eric Gottesman, Michelle Woo, and Wyatt Gallery. Other alleged members include entertainers and artists Alicia Keys and Lupe Fiasco, art activist Wildcat Ebony Brown, and artist José Parlá. 4 5 6 6 The Wide Awakes has described itself as a “decentralized network.” 6
According to its founding mission statement, Wide Awakes described itself as “a network of like minds who create in the name of liberation, artist sovereignty, and the evolution of society.” 1 Co-founder Eric Gottsman described the organization’s goal as revealing “the ancestral knowledge that has been stripped from us by the systems that govern.” 5 6 Carly Fischer, the group’s former “impact strategist, collaborative and cultural facilitator” previously claimed the initial 19th century movement was based on “liberation.” 6 7 In an interview, Wide Awakes member Tony Patrick claimed the group was inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement and called white supremacy the “original pandemic” in the United States. 6
Activities
Following its formation in 2020, that same year members of the group participated in protests and art exhibitions around the country including New York City; Mobile, Alabama; and Cincinnati, Ohio. 8 The group’s first march, planned in New York City, was initially delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 5
Other planned Wide Awakes events have included a Juneteenth celebration in Harlem, a commemoration for the passage of the 19th Amendment in Brooklyn, and several Fourth of July celebrations in New York City, Chicago, and Berlin. 1 The group has previously celebrated Indigenous People’s Day as a replacement for Columbus Day. 5
Wide Awake events are described as having a “pop-up nature,” and tend to feature artistic displays, live music, and voting registration booths. 1
Political Activism
During the 2020 election cycle, Wide Awakes members facilitated volunteer work for the campaigns of then-U.S. Senate candidates Raphael Warnock (D) and Jon Ossoff (D) during the Georgia runoff election campaign running from November 2020 through January 2021. 9
In May 2024, the Wide Awakes held a protest of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. 10
In Apri 2026, Wide Awakes head Christina Caputo claimed the movement had “been inactive for years,” though the movement’s website is still operational, and its Instagram page’s last post, as of April 2026, was made in February 2026. 2 11
Leadership
Hank Willis Thomas is the co-founder of the Wide Awakes and a co-founder of the For Freedoms PAC. Thomas is also a conceptual artist based in Brooklyn, New York. 4 12
According to her LinkedIn page, Carly Fischer previously worked as the group’s “impact strategist, collaborative and cultural facilitator” from 2020 to 2024. As of 2026, she is listed as the deputy director of the Center for Art and Advocacy. 7
Cole Allen
On April 25, 2026, Cole Allen was arrested and charged with attempting to assassinate President Donald Trump during the White House Correspondents Dinner at the Washington Hilton Hotel in Washington, D.C. Allen was allegedly listed as a member of the Wide Awakes movement. When questioned after the assassination attempt, Wide Awakes co-founder Willis Thomas claimed he “never heard of Cole Allen” and that Allen had no connection to the artist members of the group. 2 3