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The Biographical Profile of Geneva SmithermanGeneva Smitherman was born on 10 December 1940 in Brownsville, Tennessee. She moved with her family to Detroit, Michigan when she was one year old. She has written a host of publications about the history and significance of African American English. Dr. Smitherman is an educational advocate and a specialist in sociolinguistics and African American speech. Her main focus is on the history and use of African American language. She is currently University Distinguished Professor of English and Director of the African American Language and Literacy Program at Michigan State University. She is the author of, among other books, Black Talk: Words and Phrases From the Hood to the Amen Corner, Talkin That Talk: Language, Culture and Education in African America, co-author of Educating African American Males, Detroit’s Malcolm X Academy Solution and the editor of African American Women Speak Out on Anita-Hill-Clarence Thomas. Dr. Smitherman authored more than 100 articles and essays about Black speech and rhetoric and wrote the award winning article, Soul n Style in The English Journal column. Dr. Smitherman is co-founder and director of a program called My Brother’s Keeper, which is a Michigan State University mentoring program aimed at improving self-esteem and educational importance to African American males in the Detroit Public Schools. She currently holds the position of Chair of the Language Policy Committee, Conference on College Composition and Communication. Dr. Smitherman contends that “it’s foolish to talk in someone else’s tongue and one should write in their own “linguistic thang and understand the risks and benefits of doing so.” In some of her articles, like “Gitting Published While Writin in Yo Own Linguistic Thang,” she notes Standard American English was a foreign language, and Ebonics her first. She told of spending nearly 8 years writing a book where she had to fight against copy editors because they misunderstood her use of Black language and were constantly changing her words to what they thought they meant instead of what she intended. Dr. Smitherman’s aim is to teach that in terms of Black language, different does not necessarily mean deficient. |