Black English (We Be Talkin')

This unit was created by the Florin High School Panthers in California, as part of the 2022 cohort of The 1619 Project Education Network. It includes 13 lessons of approximately 90 minutes each.

Objectives & Outcomes

• Students will uncover unconscious biases towards Black English and the people who speak it.
• Students will learn about the history of Black English.
• Students will learn about structural features of Black English.
• Students will learn about the communicative dexterity and power associated with Black English.
• Students will read essays written by culturally and linguistically-diverse authors about their English languaging practices.
• Students will answer the question Should Black English be allowed in academic and business spaces?

Essential Questions

• What is Black English?  What are its characteristics?

• What happened in the lives of African people before being brought to America?
• How did the enslaved people’s experiences during the Middle Passage and in early Colonial America contribute to the development of AAVE?
• What is  language? Are some languages “more proper/more correct than others? Where did Black English originate?
• What were the unique circumstances of the descendants of American slaves and their incredible impact on American life and language?
• How do the speech varieties from the African American community reflect (1) the imprint of African language systems, (2) the influences of regional British and Southern American dialects, and  (3) the creativity and resilience of people living through oppression, segregation and the fight for equality?
• What are some features of Black English?
• What is standard English? 
• What is the history of standard English? 
• Who decides “the standard”?  
• What are the benefits of standard American English? 
• Are there problems in the way standard American English is taught in schools? 

Unit Overview

At a time in our country when discrimination and prejudice against descendants of American chattel slavery (DACS) continues to impact our community, it is imperative that students, our future leaders, uncover the unconscious biases they possess against others based on their language practices.  This unit explores Black English (African American Vernacular English) including its history, development, and features.  The unit aims to help students understand that Black English is a legitimate language consisting of a morphology, lexicon, and a grammar, features that all languages share.

Performance Task

A) A Final Reflection Essay, prompt: What connected with you about Black English during the unit?  What did not connect with you?  What misconception did you begin this unit with that you now understand better? What was the most important activity, concept, reading, or video you engaged with?  Why?

1. 1.5  pages, 12-point  Times New Roman font, Double spaced essay
2. 5-7 minutes podcast

B) A Collaborative Podcast Discussion, prompts:  

To what extent should Black English be welcomed in academic and business spaces?

Or 

Why can it be important to welcome AAVE in academic and business spaces?

These two activities require students to reflect on the ideas presented and learned  throughout this unit.

Thirteen-day (90 mins each day) unit plan for teachers, including pacing, texts and multimedia resources, graphic organizers for student projects, and performance tasks for the unit. Download below, or scroll down to read the complete unit plan.

This unit contains some texts available exclusively Born on the Water. Learn more about this book and how to access it here.

Facilitation Resources

Common Core ELA State Standards

RI9-10.2 Determine a central idea of a text and analyze in detail its development  over the course of a text.

SL 9-10.4/11-12.4 Present information, findings, and supporting evidence clearly, concisely, and logically such that listeners can follow the line of reasoning and the organization, development, and substance.

SL 9-10.5/SL 11-12.5 Make strategic use of digital media (e.g. textual, graphical, audio, visual, and interactive elements) in presentations to enhance understanding of findings, reasoning, and evidence and to add interest. 

These reflections are from high school students in an African American Cultural Studies Course.

Upon completing the unit, students were prompted to reflect on what connected with them during their study of African American Vernacular English and what new understandings they gained:

My understanding of Black English changed over the course of this unit by [understanding] how beautiful it really is. The rhythm, chemistry, love, etc. bringing everyone together... Everyone has a story, and sometimes you can get a hint of it through how they speak.

[The activity] was important because I caught myself stereotyping the person.

I felt like AAVE was just words that were shortened, and from people of the past, which is true, but now I understand it came from enslaved people who had to work, who couldn't learn to read, talk, communicate, etc.

What connected with me about Black English during the unit is code switching. Code switching connected to me because I've had to do it before...

A misconception I began this unit with is that Black English was only slang words.

In the beginning of this unit, I had the misconception that the only proper English was Standard American English. I now understand that there is no proper way of way of [speaking] English because everyone has their own way of speaking.

The most significant idea that I have learned about Black English, AAL (African American Language)/AAVE (African American Vernacular English) is that it is a proper English & language. I used to think that the only English that was proper was standard English because... but now that I learned more about the background and history of Black English/AAL I know it is proper.

My understanding of Black English has changed over the course of this unit thus far because I thought it was all about slang but it's not. It's much more that that.