Beyond Language: Ebonies, Proper English, and Identity in a Black-American Speech Community

The discourse on the ebonies resolution passed in December 1996 by the Board of Education in Oakland, CA, has increased national awareness of the language problems faced by African-American children in the public school. The discourse focused almost exclusively on dialect differences perse between the standard English of the public school and the childrenʹs home dialect or ebonies. This article has three objectives: (a) to contribute to sociolinguistic studies of speech communities; (b) to describe and explain sociolinguistic factors (beyond language/dialect) that affect Black childrenʹs performance on standard English; and (c) to show a connection between the childrenʹs dialect beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors in school with those of their parents and community. This article is based on a 2-year ethnographic study of a Black speech community in Oakland, CA, characterizedbybidialectalism and diglossia. However, the community and its children face a dilemma in learning and using proper English because of their incompatible beliefs about standard English.