Sierra J. Johnson

Sierra J. Johnson is a Linguistics major obtaining her bachelor's degree at the College of William and Mary. Much of her scholarship includes first language acquisition of black, non-custodial parents and their linguistic impacts on their progeny regarding Black American English. She is passionate about limiting linguistic discrimination in higher academia and continuing the legacy of advocacy for uplifting the voices of her fellow bidialectal students, especially those who are native speakers of Black American English. Being black in America is something that she is confronted with in society and academia on a consistent basis. With linguistic discrimination being one of the most socially accepted forms of discrimination, she hopes that participating in scholarship that could help alleviate some of those issues will prevent others from enduring those linguistic burdens.