[2] The oldest of seven children in Brownsville, Tennessee, Smitherman started her education in a one-room schoolhouse.
[5] A key claim in the Ann Arbor Decision recognized Black English as a language and established that the Ann Arbor School District violated federal statutory law because it failed to take into account this home language in the provision of education.
[6] Smitherman’s book, Talkin and Testifyin: The Language of Black America, published in 1977 by Wayne State University Press in Detroit, Michigan, contributed to shifting public and academic perspectives towards the value of African-American Vernacular English (AAVE).
This work has been widely referenced by teachers, legal scholars, sociologists, and policy analysts.
[3] Smitherman is author and editor/co-editor of 15 books and monographs and over 125 articles, essays, and published opinion pieces.