Dec. 18 Oakland School Board hears the findings and recommendations of the Task Force on the Education of African American Students and unanimously adopts a controversially worded resolution that recognizes Ebonics as a distinct language of African American students. The recommendations call for a system wide program of intervention to help Black students become proficient in Standard English using Ebonics as the bridge.

Dec. 19 News of the Oakland School Board action appears in a variety of local and national newspapers and on radio and television newscasts.

Dec. 22 Rev. Jesse Jackson, denounces the Oakland resolution on "Meet the Press." His criticism is soon echoed by Maya Angelou, Kweisi Mfume, Mario Cuomo and California Superintendent of Public Instruction Delaine Eastin, among others. References to Ebonics and the growing debate about it begin to appear on the Internet.

Dec. 24 U.S. Secretary of Education, Richard W. Riley announces the Federal Government does not recognize Ebonics as a separate language and that programs using Ebonics will not be considered eligible for federal bilingual education funds. Ebonics becomes a favorite subject of public discourse and is repeatedly debated on television and radio talk shows.

Dec. 26 Upon meeting with Oakland School officials, Jackson retracts his previous denouncement of the resolution. Other African American leaders soon follow.

Dec. 30 Jackson asks Education Secretary Riley to reconsider his position on funding programs like Oakland's that aim to improving the educational performance of Black children.

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Jan. 3 The Linguistics Society of America adopts a resolution validating Ebonics as an a acceptable derivation of English and backing the Oakland school board's intentions to use it to help students learn standard English.

Jan. 14 Oakland school board is scheduled to vote on amendments to its original resolution on Ebonics.