Ebonics (n.)

The name given to African-American VERNACULAR English when given the status of a language distinct from standard English; derived from ebony + phonics. Although the name was coined as early as 1973, it did not become widely known until December 1996, when the local school board in Oakland, California, concerned about the low level of achievement among the African-American children in its care, and anxious to increase the respect for the language the children used at home, decided to give the variety official status – the first school district in the USA to do so. The decision proved to be enormously controversial, among both black and white populations, and was dropped a month later.