Abstract
While some lament and disparage the use of Black English (BE), particularly in educational spaces, the purpose, power, and pragmatism of BE are elucidated in this manuscript in an effort to bring all educators into the knowledge of its potency and richness. Using Gee’s work on primary and secondary discourse as a foundation, this manuscript offers a chronology of BE, discusses its impact and usage as a mother tongue, and describes its importance in contemporary education, leveraging hip hop, rap music, in particular, as an instructional tool to substantiate the legitimacy of the BE as an already legitimate, viable dialect natively spoken by generations of Black people. This manuscript also invites readers to consider the value of BE in developing strong twenty-one-century learners by establishing multiliterate students who are conversant in an array of spoken languages/dialects and cultural nuances.
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Sandles, D.L. Power to the People: Using Black English and Rap to Empower Students. J Afr Am St 26, 63–80 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12111-022-09577-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12111-022-09577-3