California activists are calling for the state’s preschools to legitimize the use of Black English in the classroom.
Supporters say teaching the dialect, also known as African American English (AAE) or African American Vernacular English (AAVE), will help ‘combat harmful language hierarchies.’
The Black Californians United for Early Care & Education group is part of a movement advocating for Black English to be recognized as a legitimate, rule-based language in preschool classrooms on par with other languages.
Co-founder Dr Ashley Williams told PBS the movement is personal because she grew up being told by her family that the way she spoke at home wasn’t acceptable at school.
Williams says she felt ashamed and embarrassed by this and is spearheading the movement because she doesn’t want her two-year-old son to grow up with the same experience.
‘I don’t want my son to walk into any room and feel like his voice is not valued or his perspective can’t be heard because he’s not saying it in one way or the other,’ she told the outlet.
The advocacy group – known as BlackECE – has trained educators to support Black English speakers in the same way they support dual language learners.
The group uses resources like the Black English Knowledge Brief and webinar series, which helps educators, caregivers, and school leaders better understand Black English, its roots.
It also offers ways to create classrooms that affirm children’s language and identity.
It comes after the Golden State introduced a plan in 2020 to expand early dual-language learning and support bilingual children.
BlackECE argues that Black English should also be included as part of the scheme.
‘We talk about multilinguals, but we don’t include Black children who may be African-American English speakers,’ Xigrid Soto-Boykin, director of the Children’s Equity Project at Arizona State University, said.
‘We completely miss this subgroup of children that could also benefit from their language backgrounds to be sustained, but also to be leveraged for their own learning.’
According to 2020 research published by the National Library of Medicine, about 20 percent of US children and 44 percent of California children ages five to 17 are bilingual.
As of 2023, 96 percent of Black Americans speak English fluently.
Around 88 percent speak only English, with the remaining respondents using another language at home and speaking English very well, according to Pew Research.
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