"it bees dat way sometime": Black English and Education Disparities in the United States
Open Access
Author:
Griffin, Autumn A
Area of Honors:
English
Degree:
Bachelor of Arts
Document Type:
Thesis
Thesis Supervisors:
Raymond Keith Gilyard, Thesis Supervisor Lisa Ruth Sternlieb, Thesis Honors Advisor Kim Griffin, Faculty Reader
Keywords:
Black English disparities achievement gap
Abstract:
In 1954, Brown vs. Board of Education, Topeka Kansa ended the segregation of public schools. This decision stated that “separate educational facilities [were] inherently unequal” and was supposed to allow African American students to attend facilities that were equal to those of Whites. While great strides have been made since the court case in 1954, African American students still face a number of struggles in the U.S. educational system. In many communities around the nation, African Americans speak a language different than that of the hegemonic culture: Black English. It has also been called Black Dialect, Black Idiom, and includes variations such as, Ebonics, “language of soul,” “language of hip,” and just plain Black Talk. Over the past several decades, the discussion has centered on whether or not this is a legitimate language and if its speakers are deficient and unable to speak Standard English. This thesis was written with the goal of providing the reader with a comprehensive overview of the literature, as well as a discussion and conclusion surrounding the discourse on Black English and educational disparities in American language education.
