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The Reading Professor

Document Type

Article

Abstract

Literacy education in the United States has long centered on standardized English and formal classroom instruction. While intended as a universal benchmark, this approach systematically overlooks and delegitimizes the rich literacy history and traditions rooted in Black families and communities. Through the application of frameworks such as New Literacy Studies, Gee's Theory of Discourse Communities, Yosso's Community  Cultural Wealth model, and Critical Race Theory, this article reframes Black family literacy through a social, cultural, and historical lens. It is forged and perpetuated by resistance to racial oppression, through the intergenerational exchange of knowledge, and oral traditions within the community. This article presents current literacy rates among Black people as not cultural inadequacies, but as an "educational debt" compounded by a history of racially discriminatory practices. Areas of Black family literacy, such as the home literacy environment, African American Vernacular English (AAVE), oral traditions and the Black church, digital and civic literacies, and intergenerational and collective practices, are reviewed. Deficit-based perspectives are also examined along with their implications for students, parents, and family-school relationships. The article concludes with practical implications for literacy teacher education: reorganizing curricula, the family engagement model, the evaluative process, and the need for teacher educators to reflect on and critique their own practices. Recommendations apply to teacher educators, P-12 classroom teachers, literacy researchers, and policy professionals.

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