Associate Professor of English Prudence Layne was among writers and language experts interviewed around capitalizing 'Black' and 'White.'
Prudence Layne, associate professor of English, shared expertise in language and world cultures for a HuffPost piece examining whether or not the word “Black” should be capitalized in reporting around race and culture.
The article, “Here’s why it’s a big deal to capitalize the word ‘Black’,” features insights by journalists, writers and scholars across the country.
Recent trends to capitalize the word as it relates to shared culture, ethnicity and race come amid national conversations about race relations and American society. The article also examines arguments for and against capitalizing ‘white.’
Layne reflected that people of African heritage have questioned and debated how to refer to themselves and offered the term “Black” as more inclusive of immigrants from Haiti, the Caribbean and non-African nations.
“We’ve seen the use of negro/Negro, Afro-Americans, African-Americans, blacks/Blacks,” she told HuffPost. “It is important to understand that the use of the term Black can be applied to persons in and outside the United States who choose to identify themselves in that way.”
Read the full story here.