When the Oakland, California, school board called African American English "Ebonics" and claimed that it "is not a black dialect or any dialect of English," they reignited a debate over language, race, and culture that reaches back to the era of slavery in the United States. In this book, John Baugh, an authority on African American English, sets new parameters for the debate by dissecting and challenging many of the prevailing myths about African American language and its place in American society. Baugh's inquiry ranges from the origins of African American English among slaves and their descendants to its recent adoption by standard English speakers of various races. Some of the topics he considers include practices and malpractices for educating language minority students, linguistic discrimination in the administration of justice, cross-cultural communication between Blacks and whites, and specific linguistic aspects of African American English. This detailed overview of the main points of debate about African American language will be important reading for both scholars and the concerned public.

They had no pens. They had no paper. It didn't matter - they could neither read nor write. But slaves had plenty to say and share - their stories, their sufferings, their wisdom, their wit. Kids will learn that nothing is more powerful than oral history. Words spoken and tales told completely unfiltered by others can teach young people not only the facts, but the very soul of what happened in the past. Hear the people of the past in their own words through diaries, interviews, quotations, poetry, and songs.

Uses diaries, interviews, quotations, poetry, and songs to show what life was like for people in bondage.

"And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years; And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great sub-stance." - Genesis 15:13-14 For most of our lives we've been taught that the church has replaced Israel, Israel migrated and mixed with all nations, and that God no longer cares about Israel... but if that's the case, how can the church trust anything that comes out of the mouth of God if he'd just back out on all the promises made to Israel? + God never abandoned Israel. + Christianity did not replace the nation of Israel. + Much of Christian doctrine was designed to reinforce white supremacy. One of the biggest travesties of the Transatlantic Slave Trade is that black culture prior to coming to America was completely erased on purpose. What couldn't be erased was eventually white washed until we were so uncertain of our identity that we began to identify with two lands... African American... + In the late 1400s Portugal began deporting black Hebrews to the West Coast of Africa. + European journals written before and after the Transatlantic slave trade confirm Hebrews were black. + French, English, Portuguese, and German maps show The Kingdom of Judah located in Africa. + A 1766 Spanish map has Negroland marked as "populated by Jews." The reason it is so hard to uncover our true history is because of Eurocentric Christian racism. Most of them and many of our own people simply refuse to look at the evidence, so they deflect in order to avoid it. + "Salvation isn't about race." + "Why does it matter?" + "You need to repent." They will say anything to keep us from teach OUR HISTORY from OUR BOOK. They want to teach the deception of a light, Middle Eastern, and olive Israel, while ignoring all the references to black Hebrews in the Bible. + Moses, Joseph, and Paul were all mistaken for Egyptians. + Job said, "my skin is black upon me." + Solomon's lover said, "I am black but lovely." When questioned about these inconsistencies with what we see in movies and on TV, the common Christian cop out is to try to explain it away as meaning something other than what the text indicates. + Daniel describes Christ as having skin the color of bronze in the book of Daniel. + John describes Christ as having skin the color of bronze in the book of Revelation. + Christ describes his own feet as the color of bronze in the book of Revelation. Ultimately, this book was written for TRUTH SEEKERS that want to know the true history of black people in America. This book isn't about race based salvation, God caring about skin color, or any other false reason false teachers look for in order to avoid the subject. The truth is that scripture was not written about Europeans, it wasn't written by Europeans, but it does address what's coming to the Europeans as payment for everything they've done on the planet. Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." - John 8:31-32