2024 Modern Language Association (MLA) Mina P. Shaughnessy Prize Honorable Mention Learn how to center, affirm, and develop Black immigrant literacies in ways that allow all youth to engage with and honor their literacies. This book presents a framework to revolutionize teaching in ways that draw on students' assets for redesigning, rethinking, and reimagining literacy and the English language arts curriculum. This novel framework has five mechanisms through which Black immigrant literacies and languaging can be better understood: the struggle for justice, the myth of the model minority, transraciolinguistics, the local-global, and holistic literacies. Presenting authentic narratives of Afro-Caribbean youth, the author describes how teachers and educators can: (1) teach the Black literate immigrant; (2) use literacy and English language arts curriculum as a vehicle for instructing Black immigrant youth; (3) foster relations among Black immigrants and their peers through literacy; and (4) connect parents, schools, and communities. The text includes lesson plans, instructional modules, and templates that range in their focus from K-12 to college. Book Features: Details how teachers, curriculum, and instruction can benefit from understanding the experiences of Black immigrant students, and how that experience differs from other Black American students. Highlights authentic narratives that center the holistic voices of Afro-Caribbean immigrant youth from Jamaica and the Bahamas. Demonstrates how students grapple with racialization, becoming immigrants, and the responses of others to their use of Englishes in the United States. Offers research-based methods for teaching all students to draw on their metalinguistic, metacultural, and metaracial understandings in literacy and ELA classrooms. Presents concrete strategies for supporting Black immigrant populations in establishing and sustaining a sense of community across linguistic, cultural, and racial contexts.
Patriann Smith is a professor in literacy studies at the University of South Florida, vice president of the Literacy Research Association (LRA), and coauthor of Affirming Black Students' Lives and Literacies: Bearing Witness.
Contents (FINAL) Foreword Shondel Nero ?vii Acknowledgments and Dedication ?ix 1. ?Introduction ?1 The Framework for Black Immigrant Literacies ?2 Authentic Narratives ?4 A Call to Teachers, Educators, Schools, and Policymakers ?6 Envisioning Imaginary Futures With Black Immigrant Literacies ?8 Overview of the Chapters ?9 2. ?Reenvisioning the Literacies of Black Immigrant Youth ?10 A Brief History and Demographics of Black Immigrants in the United States ?10 Intersections Surrounding Black Immigrant Youth as a "New Model Minority" ?11 Languaging and Englishes of Black Immigrants: A Selective Review ?15 Peer Interactions in the Black Immigrant Experience ?22 Reenvisioning the Literacies of Black Immigrant Youth ?23 Summary ?26 Questions to Consider ?26 3. ?The Framework for Black Immigrant Literacies ?27 Elements of the Black Immigrant Literacies Framework ?27 Intersectional Lenses Undergirding Black Immigrant Literacies ?32 Applying the Black Immigrant Literacies Framework ?39 Questions to Consider ?39 4. ?Teaching Chloe, a Black Jamaican Literate Immigrant: Entanglements of Englishes, Race, and Migration ?40 Chloe's Authentic Narrative: Entanglements of Englishes, Race, and Migration: "You'll Never Hear Her Speak, Like Broken" ?41 Insights From Chloe's Authentic Narrative ?47 Questions to Consider ?65 5. ?Teaching Ervin, a Black Bahamian Literate Immigrant: Fostering Peer Interactions ?67 Ervin's Authentic Narrative: Rac(e)ing Englishes as a Multilingual Migrant: "Talking Like I'm Ghetto" ?68 Insights From Ervin's Authentic Narrative ?75 "Black Enough" as a Way to Belong ?75 Questions to Consider ?102 6. ?Bridging Invisible Barriers With Black Immigrant Literacies: Building Solidarity Among Schools, Parents, and Communities ?103 Parents ?104 Schools and Teachers ?118 Community ?119 Summary ?119 Afterword ?133 Appendix ?136 References ?140 Index ?155 About the Author ?164
"Smith's book stands as a seminal work that not only deepens our understanding of Black immigrant literacies but also provides invaluable insights for educators and policymakers seeking to create more inclusive and equitable learning environments." -Journal of Language and Literacy Education "I feel like this book has given me a Black immigrant literacies lens. I now see how students who could speak English in diverse ways were often misclassified or silenced due to the delegitimization that occurs in school contexts.... It's a transformative work that challenges conventional understanding of literacy, identity, and education, while also compelling us to reconsider our preconceptions about who multilingual students are." -Teachers College Record "Smith offers valuable tools specifically beneficial to educators in urban settings grappling with the achievement gap.... Though Smith centers the literacies of Black immigrants, the framework's alignment with multiliteracies concepts applies to supporting all students' literacy practices." -The Urban Review "Smith's book is a resource that can transform instructional practices by equipping educators with the skills and knowledge in the field of literacy in supporting students from diverse backgrounds. The organization, style, and length of the book are appropriate for preservice and in-service teachers, and with the increase in the number of diverse students in K-12 education, this book is a "must-have" for literacy teachers." -Journal of Black Studies "Presents a compelling vision and framework for reaching and teaching Black immigrant youth by explicitly attending to the intersections of race, culture, language, and migration." -Journal of Education for Multilingualism " Black Immigrant Literacies serves as both a scholarly work and a practical resource.... Smith equips educators, researchers, and policymakers with insightful tools to acknowledge the multi-layered challenges confronted by these students while actively fostering more equitable and culturally sustaining learning environments." -Caribbean Educational Research Journal "Dr. Smith presents a well-researched framework that centralizes race in the education and literacies of Black immigrant youth in the United States and beyond.... She outlines strategies for supporting students of color, offering practical guidance for teachers, parents, and communities to actively engage in fostering students' literacy development." -Critical Inquiry in Language Studies
