Shin and Mill (2021) propose four steps children go through when learning "variable form use." Although I applaud Shin and Miller's focus on morphosyntactic variation, their accrual of evidence is post hoc and selective. Fortunately, Shin and Miller recognize this and encourage tests of their ideas. In support of their work, I share data…

The objective of this single-class activity is to get students to make connections between Eurocentric standards of communication and African American Vernacular English (AAVE) through a womanist rhetorical lens. This activity sheds light on how professional, academic, and corporate communicative spaces tend to deflect and reject Black people…

For educators committed to promoting social equity, the question of how to address dialect hegemony is increasingly important. While linguists have long accepted the concept of dialect equality, educators have struggled with the issue, sparking a history of controversy and debate underscoring larger social issues of diversity and equity. For…

All students deserve to attend programs and institutions that meet high quality standards. But different program goals, investments of time, and eligibility criteria make it difficult to set specific standards that will apply equally well to all types of programs and institutions. This report sets out principles for developing an accountability…

Design and implementation of a collaborative course project, using Little Red Riding Hood (LRRH) to teach and discuss the concepts of orality, cultural legacy, archetypes, adaptation/appropriation, and social criticism in an Introduction to Literature course at Historically Black Alabama State University in Montgomery, Alabama. The student groups…

Collins et al. 2008 offers a principles-and-parameters-based analysis of an AAVE construction first described in Spears 1998, in which nominal phrases such as "John's ass" appear to have exactly the same denotation, and behavior with respect to familiar conditions on anaphora, as the possessor ["John," and similarly for pronominal possessors.…

Community colleges and historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) often serve the same populations; however, the historical purposes, policies, and practices of HBCUs often better prepare them to serve first-generation students. Although both HBCUs and community colleges have their origins within the same historical period, the forces…

This paper describes an ethnic studies course taught at Alverno College, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The course is offered as a two semester, hour elective in the Weekend College which provides women an opportunity to complete a college degree by attending classes on weekends only. The course meets for three hours every other weekend for a total of…

The purpose of this article is to synthesize the relevant research literatures in order to conceptualize Black immigrant students' socialization and identity transformation, thereby finding more effective ways to work with this group. Providing Asian immigrant students as a comparison group, this article identifies and analyzes the commonalities…

In this bulletin, recent demographic and socioeconomic trends among American blacks are reviewed and compared with trends among whites. The report includes information on black population growth and composition; rural-urban distribution; fertility and family planning practice; mortality; migration; family structure and marital status; education;…

Following the federal court's Ann Arbor (Michigan) decision regarding the education of children who speak black English, the National Institute of Education and the Ann Arbor Public Schools cosponsored a national conference on the subject, the proceedings of which are summarized in this paper. Following an introduction, the paper provides…

This InfoBrief investigates the role and relevance of historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) in enhancing educational opportunities for African Americans by examining the role of HBCUs as baccalaureate-origin institutions of black science and engineering (S&E) doctorate recipients. It examines trends primarily during the past two…

The contribution of the traditionally black institutions (TBIs) to the undergraduate education of blacks in 20 states was studied, with attention to trends in enrollments and degrees from 1970-1982. From 1970 to 1976, the number of black full-time undergraduates almost doubled in 17 southern states and Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Ohio. In 1970,…

Some students at historically Black and Baptist Virginia Union University are disappointed they are not getting the kind of religious experience they'd anticipated. A few miles away, at the traditionally white and Baptist University of Richmond, the salient issue for African-American students is greater social integration. (MSE)

Provides statistical evidence that measures progress of African Americans in institutions of higher education in the United States. Data include racial inequality; graduation rates from liberal arts colleges, state universities, and black colleges; and graduation rates of black athletes. (GR)