This co-authored article describes a community literacy oral history project involving 14 undergraduate students. It is intellectually situated at the intersection of writing studies, oral history, and African American rhetoric and distinguished by two features: 1) we were a combined team of 20 collaborators, and 2) our narrator, Frank Gilyard,…

Discusses the contributions of Louise Bennett in depicting Jamaican folklore. (MM)

This bibliography contains 103 references to scholarship on Africanized English and related educational scholarship published since 1985 and includes articles published in scholarly journals, books, and chapters from edited volumes. (MDM)

Analyzes the depiction of Black characters in children's fiction series since 1968. Discusses the following new trends: (1) revisions that eliminate stereotypes; (2) introduction of realistic contemporary Black characters; (3) tokenism; and (4) elimination of Black characters altogether. (FMW)

Finds that words written in dialect are difficult for black students to comprehend while reading silently, which does not agree with previously advanced hypotheses by other researchers. (RB)

Research indicates that dialect is used in children's books to suggest the geographic background, social class, educational level, and intelligence of literary characters. Several studies show, however, that young readers develop negative attitudes about characters who speak nonstandard dialects and that these attitudes are intensified if the…

This book seeks to raise some of the critical theoretical issues involved in the study of American negro folklore in all its major forms. Along with the presentation of texts, the concern here is for the meaning and significance of the folklore and its interpretations as expressed by a variety of authors. The selections are divided into eight…

This bibliography, like two previous editions in 1941 and 1948, lists those books for children and young people which present Negroes as human beings and not as stereotypes. The introduction assesses the progress which has been made in this area since the first edition in 1941 and articulates the guidelines for selection. The books cited are…

The purpose of this study was to ascertain the awareness and application of Black English features by writers and producers of materials for young children which represent black characters in a fictive setting. The study was limited to materials which were available to inner city children in Cleveland, Ohio, through libraries. Fifty-three fiction…

This paper explores the presence of African American Vernacular English patterns in the reading of one child over a 20-week period. In this paper, I present insights from linguists about African American Vernacular English, list linguistic patterns characteristic of African American Vernacular English speakers, examine the relationship between the…