A growing body of research has focused on Black and Latino males in community colleges, but the research has stopped short of exploring how they experience the academic language of the community college. The purpose of this qualitative, narrative study was to explore the stories of Black and Latino males at a community college in Maryland to better understand how they think about, learn, and use academic language and how their entry into an academic discourse community influences the development of an academic literate identity. The study utilized Harris and Wood's (2016) Socio-ecological Outcomes model to explore students' identities and experiences. The following research questions guided the study: 1) What stories do Black and Latino males tell about academic language expectations at a community college in Maryland? 2) What stories do Black and Latino males tell about their own use of academic language at a community college in Maryland? 3) What stories do Black and Latino males tell about the relationship between academic language and the development of their own academic identities at a community college in Maryland? The researcher conducted semi-structured interviews with six Black and Latino males at a large community college in Maryland. The data analysis, using narrative thematic analysis, indicated that the participants found ways in which to navigate community college academic spaces by developing an academically literate identity and adopting the institution's distinctive discourse patterns. This ensured their success, even in the presence of barriers and the institution's false assumptions that students entering the community college have mastered (and are ready and willing to use) academic discourse. The researcher offers recommendations for practice to help community colleges better understand the experiences of Black and/or Latino males with the goal of transforming their systems to better enable Black and/or Latino male success. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2222/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]