The purpose of this study was to explore the tenacities, practices, and discourse of family-based literacy practices and their connection in African American families. It scrutinized the influence of the practices of African American families on the multiple contexts of literacy practices in their passageway across the school-community periphery. The researcher used interviews, literacy practices blogs, and analyzing of literacy artifacts to identify and document the family literacy practices of five African American families with pre-school age children. The findings of the study revealed that each family shared some common literacy practices which may be associated with the ecology of their families. Those identified practices presented three major themes, including family connection literacy practices, religious literacy practices, and civil rights-enhancement literacy practices. Furthermore, most of the families viewed the literacy practices most closely associated with the dominant culture as more important. Practices related to family routines and structures were commonly regarded as less important in children's language and literacy development. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]