Campaigners push for ‘black English’ to be taught in US schools to tackle 'harmful language hierarchies'

Campaigners are pushing for "black English" to be taught in American schools to tackle "harmful language hierarchies".

Activists in California are calling for for the state's early years education system to formally recognise it as a legitimate language in preschool classrooms.

The advocacy group Black Californians United for Early Care & Education, known as BlackECE, is leading efforts to have African American Vernacular English recognised alongside other languages in educational settings.

Supporters of the initiative argue the move would help dismantle what they describe as "harmful language hierarchies" embedded within the education system.

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The group says black English follows consistent grammatical rules and deserves the same recognition afforded to other languages taught in California schools.

Dr Ashley Williams, co-founder of BlackECE, said her support for the campaign stems from her own childhood experiences.

She told PBS that members of her family taught her the way she spoke at home was not appropriate for school.

"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 broadcaster.

Ms Williams, who has a two-year-old son, said those early experiences left her feeling ashamed and embarrassed about the way she spoke.

BlackECE has developed training programmes to help educators support children who speak black English in much the same way they assist pupils learning more than one language.

The organisation has also produced a knowledge brief and webinar series designed to help teachers, carers and school administrators better understand black English and its linguistic origins.

The resources include guidance on creating classroom environments that validate children's language and strengthen their sense of identity.

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The campaign follows California's 2020 initiative to expand early dual-language learning and improve support for bilingual children.

BlackECE is now calling for black English to be incorporated into that existing framework.

Xigrid Soto-Boykin, director of the Children's Equity Project at Arizona State University, has backed the proposal.

"We talk about multilinguals, but we don't include black children who may be African-American English speakers," she 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."

Research published by the National Library of Medicine in 2020 found that around 44 per cent of Californian children aged between five and 17 speak two languages.

Pew Research data from 2023 also found that 96 per cent of black Americans are fluent English speakers, while 88 per cent speak only English.

California is home to more than two million residents who identify as black American - over 5 per cent of the state's population.

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