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Alex Boswell

12/5/2012

Category: Advocacy For Students and Democratic Citizenship

Artifact for Advocating for the Literacy of Diverse Learners

I wrote the excerpt of the story that is provided below, while my project partner transcribed the story

into African American Vernacular English (AAVE). Together, we designed an illustrated book that could be r

in both Standard English and AAVE. The book included:

A map of Africa for students to see where two of the countries mentioned in the text are.

One page at the beginning of the book with the pictures and names of influential African American

women in the past and present.

A poem, Still I Rise, by Maya Angelou at the beginning of the book

Directions at the beginning of the book for the INSERT note-taking system, developed by Vaughn

and Estes, to help readers build understanding and more deeply, as well as actively, interpret what they

read.

Questions at the end of the text to encourage discussion and critical thinking. The questions could

also be used as a form of assessment.

A CD recording of both the Standard English version and the AAVE version of the text.

A prompt for teachers to create their own supplementary activity, tailored for their specific

students, to guide readers who speak AAVE to identify and understand the grammatical patterns of

Standard English in relation to their own AAVE. The main purpose of this would be to help students in

their ability to switch from AAVE to Standard English when needed.

NzinghaBy Alex Boswell

While all of these thoughts were swirling through my mind as I waited for Aunt Adisa to come home,

group of boys came from around the corner and went across the street to play basketball in the courtyard. In th

group of boys was my classmate, Taylor, who was wearing a long blue t-shirt with the sleeves cut off and redbasketball shorts. I walked over to say hello and asked if I could join the game. Yeah, Nzingha. You can pla

on our team, Taylor said. The air was so hot, I could see heat rising from the blacktop, but it didnt stop us fr

playing. A guy named Justin tossed me the ball and I was about to shoot for the hoop, when all of a sudden I

someone grab me. I turned to see who it was and then a boy from the other team knocked the ball from my

hands. Come on Nzingha, what was that? Taylor exclaimed. What? Taylor, did you see that? That guy jus

grabbed me! Taylor looked at the boy, who just stood there in a firm stance, then looked back at me, and sai

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I didnt see anything. Just stay focused next time. We started the game again. I noticed a woman, with braid

hair in a cone shape above her head. She sat down on the bench at the bus stop across the street, close to my

Aunt Adisas apartment building. From the bench, she watched us playing basketball. I wiped the sweat from

forehead and brought my attention back to the ball. Then another member from the other team pushed me so

I tripped one of the boys in front of me. We both fell to the blacktop and he fell on top of me. Get off of me

yelled, trying to push him off of my body. He stayed there and just smirked at me.Get off right now! I screamed.

Taylor pulled the guy off of me and helped me up. All of the other boys were laughing and smirking. This g

ruining our game one of his friends shouted. She should just sit down and watch. She cant play the way we

play. I glared at the boy, feeling hurt and annoyed. Taylor saw the look on my face and said, Just give her o

more chance. We started to play again. I kept my guard up because I wanted to show those boys that I could

play as mercilessly as they did. I looked everyone straight in the eye as I dribbled the ball hard against the

ground. The hollow sound from the bouncing ball echoed against the blacktop. One of the boys tried to push m

again but I kept my feet planted on the ground. I passed the ball to one of my teammates. As I tried to block o

of the boys on the other team, someone grabbed me again but I ignored it and kept playing. Finally, I got a ho

of the ball and sent one smooth shot to the hoop. As I turned with a smile, the tallest boy on the opposite teamtowered above me. With his deep voice, he looked down at me and said you lesbo and then he spat on my

shoes. I looked down at my feet and then back up at him. Just because I can play basketball with you guys

doesnt mean I deserve to be treated like this. And, just because I can make a shot while youre harassing me,

doesnt make me gay! I turned away. He started to come after me but Taylor held him back before he could

come close enough.

I felt full of rage. The woman with the beautiful hair that had sat down on the bench earlier called to m

as I made my way across the street, Young lady, you have to watch out for yourself. I looked over to her an

shouted, Did you see what they did to me? I immediately felt a little embarrassed for talking to a stranger so

disrespectfully, but I was angry. I was walking towards her now to get back to my aunts apartment. I can seeyou feel irritated. What is your name? the woman asked.

My name is Nzingha, I said, as I looked up from the sidewalk and wiped the sweat from my face.

The womans eyes lit up, Nzingha is a very beautiful name. My name is Safia. Safia paused to look at me.

I like your hair. I said immediately.

Well, thank you. This is a hairstyle from Ghana called Akwyelebi.

Are you from Ghana? I asked.

No, I am originally from a country in Africa called Angola. Do you have any relatives from Africa?

I said, Nobody I know.

Safia responded, I only asked because your name is familiar to me.

What do you mean? I asked.

There was once a Queen Nzingha of my country.

What? I asked, confused and surprised.

You dont know the story of your name?

No, I never knew my name had any story.

Safia shifted her seat on the bench and she began to tell me, Queen Nzingha was alive in the 1600s.

She was queen of Angola, although back then it was called Ndongo and Matamba. She was a warrior and

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fought for justice. This is probably one story that isn't in your history textbook. Did you know that there have

been many woman leaders? Nzingha was one of them. Many people say that Nzingha worked on creating

peaceful deals with the Portuguese. There is one story, in which Nzingha met with the Portuguese colonial

governor at his palace. The governor had a chair arranged only for himself to be seated. Nzingha refused to st

like a beggar so she asked a servant to kneel down with his hands on the floor and to serve as her royal stool.

Nzingha did this to not let the Portuguese governor disrespect her for being an African woman leader, by forcher to stand. Later, Nzingha declared a war that lasted thirty years against slave-hunting Europeans. Nzingha

formed friendships with many groups of people and asked the Jaga people, who were known to be fierce

warriors, to join her. Nzingha also encouraged escaped slaves to fight with her. The tactics that her soldiers us

were copied by African armies centuries later. She fought fearlessly, past the age of 60, and she died when she

was 80 years old in 1663. Angola, my country, was not free from the Portuguese until 1975 but the Angolan

people still celebrate Nzingha and all that she did for her people. She was a very important woman.