Explores developmental and adult literacy in African American communities from cross-disciplinary vantage points; focuses on influences of cultural socialization and literacy values and practices among many African Americans.

Contents: S.B. Heath, Foreword. Preface. C.D. Qualls, Public and Personal Meanings of Literacy. C.S. Hammer, "Come Sit Down and Let Mamma Read": Book Reading Interactions Between African American Mothers and Their Infants. D. Bloome, T. Champion, L. Katz, M.B. Morton, R. Muldrow, Spoken and Written Narrative Development: African American Preschoolers as Storytellers and Storymakers. J.C. Scott, C.D. Marcus, Emergent Literacy: Home-School Connections. S.L. Horner, Literacy in the African Diaspora: Black Caribbean American Communities. J. Hartley, J.L. Harris, Reading the Typography of Text. A.G. Kamhi, S.P. Laing, The Path to Reading Success or Failure: A Choice for the New Millennium. J.A. Washington, H.K. Craig, Reading Performance and Dialectal Variation. N.R. LeMoine, Language Variation and Literacy Acquisition in African American Students. B.J. Moss, From the Pews to the Classrooms: Influences of the African American Church on Academic Literacy. T.A. Crowe, M.E. Byrne, S.T. Hale, Design and Delivery Issues for Literacy Programs Serving African American Adults. B.J.F. Meyer, A.P. Talbot, L.W. Poon, M.M. Johnson, Effects of Structure Strategy Instruction on Text Recall in Older African American Adults. M.M. Huff, W.A. Rogers, An Age-Related View of Computer Literacy for Adult African Americans. J. Baugh, Coming Full Circle: Some Circumstances Pertaining to Low Literacy Achievement Among African Americans.