Working from an Educational and Linguistic Anthropological perspective I examine the relationship between language use and literacy development and the influence of race, class and ethnicity on such development. I study the ways young children acquire language and learn to participate in the everyday and routine cultural practices at home, school and other community settings. The more we know about this relationship the better we will be able to understand how literacy development is not just contingent on the negotiation of meaning through language practices but also how the knowledge and literacy practices that are being acquired are cultural and historical productions of communities and groups.