Articulate While Black: Barack Obama, Language, and Race in the U.S.

Barack Obama is widely considered one of the most powerful and charismatic speakers of our age. Without missing a beat, he often moves between Washington insider talk and culturally Black ways of speaking--as shown in a famous YouTube clip, where Obama declined the change offered to him by a Black cashier in a Washington, D.C. restaurant with the phrase, "Nah, we straight." In Articulate While Black, two renowned scholars of Black Language address language and racial politics in the U.S. through an insightful examination of President Barack Obama's language use--and America's response to it. In this eloquently written and powerfully argued book, H. Samy Alim and Geneva Smitherman provide new insights about President Obama and the relationship between language and race in contemporary society. Throughout, they analyze several racially loaded, cultural-linguistic controversies involving the President--from his use of Black Language and his "articulateness" to his "Race Speech," the so-called "fist-bump," and his relationship to Hip Hop Culture. Using their analysis of Barack Obama as a point of departure, Alim and Smitherman reveal how major debates about language, race, and educational inequality erupt into moments of racial crisis in America. In challenging American ideas about language, race, education, and power, they help take the national dialogue on race to the next level. In much the same way that Cornel West revealed nearly two decades ago that "race matters," Alim and Smitherman in this groundbreaking book show how deeply "language matters" to the national conversation on race--and in our daily lives.

Reference

Alim, H. Samy

Smitherman, Geneva

Words, Language & Grammar

Oxford University Press

Barack Obama is widely considered one of the most powerful and charismatic speakers of our age. Without missing a beat, he often moves between Washington insider talk and culturally Black ways of speaking-as shown in a famous YouTube clip, where Obama declined the change offered to him by a Black cashier in a Washington, D.C. restaurant with the phrase, "Nah, we straight." In Articulate While Black, two renowned scholars of Black Language address language and racial politics in the U.S. through an insightful examination of President Barack Obama's language use-and America's response to it. In this eloquently written and powerfully argued book, H. Samy Alim and Geneva Smitherman provide new insights about President Obama and the relationship between language and race in contemporary society. Throughout, they analyze several racially loaded, cultural-linguistic controversies involving the President-from his use of Black Language and his "articulateness" to his "Race Speech," the so-called "fist-bump," and his relationship to Hip Hop Culture. Using their analysis of Barack Obama as a point of departure, Alim and Smitherman reveal how major debates about language, race, and educational inequality erupt into moments of racial crisis in America. In challenging American ideas about language, race, education, and power, they help take the national dialogue on race to the next level. In much the same way that Cornel West revealed nearly two decades ago that "race matters," Alim and Smitherman in this groundbreaking book show how deeply "language matters" to the national conversation on race-and in our daily lives.

Dr. Smitherman shows Black English to be a legitimate, vital, and effective language and offers specific suggestions for a curriculum that would recognize its particular grammatical and phonetic rules and rhetorical style

Talkin and Testifyin: The Language of Black America

Politics & Social Sciences

Social Sciences

Houghton, mifflin, harcourt

Words and phrases in current use by all segments of the Black community are accompanied by historical information and sentences used to clarify meanings

Black Talk: Words and Phrases from the Hood to the Amen Corner

Fully revised and updated -- the ultimate guide to black talk from all segments of the African American community.Do you want to be down with the latest hype terms from the Hip Hop world? Black Talk is the perfect source. "Even if you think you're hip, you'd better look up kitchen, got her nose open, jump salty, and hundreds of other sayings, former or current, that testify to the linguistic originality of Black speakers," said Frederic G. Cassidy, chief editor of the Dictionary of American Regional English. This new edition of Black Talk includes more than 300 new words and phrases and, now more than ever, reflects the ever-changing meanings and uses of this vital and rich part of our language. In a style that is always informative and always entertaining, Geneva Smitherman takes this dictionary far beyond a list of words. Black Talk is a cultural map that charts word meanings along the highways and byways of African American life.

Arts & Photography

History & Criticism

HarperOne

A highly readable collection of key articles and essays by a leading scholar on African American language and politics. Discussing the inter-relationship between African American language, culture and education, Talkin' that Talk is divided into sections, each introduced by the author, which include: * African American language and education * Language theory, research and the Black intellectual tradition * Black language and culture * Black women's discourse * Language policy and global multilingualism.

Talkin that Talk: Language, Culture and Education in African America

Children's Books

Education & Reference

Routledge

Word from the Mother

Written by the hugely respected linguist, Geneva Smitherman, this book presents a definitive statement on African American English. Enriched by her evocative and inimitable prose style, the study presents an overview of past debates on the speech of African Americans, as well as providing a vision for the future. Featuring cartoons which demonstrate the relationship between language and race, as well as common perceptions of African American Language, she explores its contribution to mainstream American English and includes a summary of expressions as a suggested linguistic core of AAL. As global manifestations of Black Language increase, she argues that, through education, we must broaden our conception of AAL and its speakers, and further examine the implications of gender, age and class on AAL. Perhaps most of all we must appreciate the ‘artistic and linguistic genius’ of AAL, presented in this book through rap and Hip Hop lyrics and the explorations of rhyme and rhetoric in the Black speech community. Word from the Mother is an essential read for students of African American English, language, culture and sociolinguistics, as well as the general reader interested in the worldwide ‘crossover’ of black popular culture.

Word from the Mother: Language and African Americans

In her book, Geneva Smitherman makes a substantial contribution to an understanding of Black English by setting it in the larger context of Black culture and life style. In addition to defining Black English, by its distinctive structure and special lexicon, Smitherman argues that the Black dialect is set apart from traditional English by a rhetorical style which reflects its African origins. Smitherman also tackles the issue of Black and White attitudes toward Black English, particularly as they affect educational policy. 
Documenting her insights with quotes from notable Black historical, literary and popular figures, Smitherman makes clear that Black English is as legitimate a form of speech as British, American, or Australian English.

Talkin and Testifyin: The Language of Black America (Waynebook)

Wayne State University Press

When Anita Hill reluctantly appeared before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee in October 1991 charging that Supreme Court Justice nominee Clarence Thomas had sexually harassed her, she did more that force the re-opening of Thomas' Senate confirmation hearing. Her allegation was also the catalyst for what would become a unique and extraordinarily complex moment in U.S. history-immediate and wide-ranging debate and discussion across racial, gender, and class lines about gender issues in the workplace, sexual stereotypes, white male political hegemony, and the tensions of class and race in the U.S. women's movement. Though central to the controversy, the voices of African American women could barely be heard. African American Women Speak Out on Anita Hill-Clarence Thomas contains reflections as well as in-depth analyses by African American women scholars and writers on the confrontation and its broader meaning for the African American community.

African American Women Speak Out on Anita Hill-Clarence Thomas (African American Life Series)

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Smitherman, Geneva. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Smitherman, Geneva

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Smitherman, Geneva. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Articulate While Black: Barack Obama, Language, and Race in the U.S.

Articulate While Black: Barack Obama, Language, and Race in the U.S.

Talkin and Testifyin: The Language of Black America

Black Talk: Words and Phrases from the Hood to the Amen Corner

Black Talk: Words and Phrases from the Hood to the Amen Corner

Talkin that Talk: Language, Culture and Education in African America

Word from the Mother: Language and African Americans

Word from the Mother

Talkin and Testifyin: The Language of Black America (Waynebook)

African American Women Speak Out on Anita Hill-Clarence Thomas (African American Life Series)