Speaking my Soul

Race, Life and Language

John Russell Rickford

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2021
• ISBN:
  9781000506990
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Sprachen & Linguistik
• Subtopic: Soziolinguistik

Speaking My Soul is the honest story of linguist John R. Rickford's life from his early years as the youngest of ten children in Guyana to his status as Emeritus Professor of Linguistics at Stanford, of the transformation of his identity from colored or mixed race in Guyana to black in the USA, and of his work championing Black Talk and its speakers.

This is an inspiring story of the personal and professional growth of a black scholar, from his life as an immigrant to the USA to a world-renowned expert who has made a leading contribution to the study of African American life, history, language and culture. In this engaging memoir, Rickford recalls landmark events for his racial identity like being elected president of the Black Student Association at the University of California, Santa Cruz; learning from black expeditions to the South Carolina Sea Islands, Jamaica, Belize and Ghana; and meeting or interviewing civil rights icons like Huey P. Newton, Rosa Parks and South African Dennis Brutus. He worked with Rachel Jeantel, Trayvon Martin's good friend, and key witness in the trial of George Zimmerman for his murder—Zimmerman's exoneration sparked the Black Lives Matter movement.

With a foreword by poet John Agard, this is the account of a former Director of African and African American Studies whose work has increased our understanding of the richness of African American language and our awareness of the education and criminal justice challenges facing African Americans. It is key reading for students and faculty in linguistics, mixed race studies, African American studies and social justice.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Endorsements
• Half-Title
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• List of Illustrations
• Foreword
• Prologue: the gift of stroke
• 1 Youngest of ten, and my monkey and rabbit
• 2 Forebears and cousins
• 3 Baby Wade, my Mom
• 4 Siblings: Patricia(s), Peter
• 5 Queen’s College (my high school)
• 6 Friends and girlfriends
• 7 Johnny and Johnny (Agard) and the police
• 8 Going to America
• 9 University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC), and the summer of 1969
• 10 Forgive me, my son. Thank you, my parents
• 11 How I fell in love with linguistics and Black Talk
• 12 The Sea Islands: Dashiki in Suitcase if Required
• 13 Rosa Parks at Stanford
• 14 Stanford in Oxford—David Dabydeen and Dennis Brutus
• 15 African and African American Studies, Learning Expeditions, Kongo Cosmograms
• 16 Ebonics, Rachel Jeantel, Trayvon Martin, Black Lives Matter
• Epilogue: The gift of Love
• Index