Although not exhaustive, the following resources are some examples of the different frameworks cited: ethnic studies (see Aztlan: A Journal of Chicano Studies); feminist studies (see Frontiers: A Journal of Women’s Studies); cultural nationalist paradigms (see Asante, 1987 Asante MK (1987) The Afrocentric idea Philadelphia PA Temple University Press  [Google Scholar]); critical legal studies (see Kelman, 1989); Marxist and neo‐Marxist frameworks (see Bowles & Gintis, 1976 Bowles S Gintis H (1976) Schooling in capitalistic America: educational reform and the contradictions of economic life New York Basic Books  [Google Scholar]; Barrera, 1979 Barrera M (1979) Race and class in the southwest: a theory of inequality London University of Notre Dame Press  [Google Scholar]); internal colonial models (see Bonilla & Girling, 1973 Bonilla F Girling R (Eds) (1973) Structures of dependency Stanford CA Stanford Institute of Politics  [Google Scholar]); LatCrit (see Arriola, 1998 Arriola, E. (1998). Difference, solidarity and law: building Latina/o communities through LatCrit theory. Chicano‐Latino Law Review, 19: 1–612.  [Google Scholar]; Valdes, 1997 Valdes, F. (1997). LatCrit theory: naming and launching a new direction of critical legal scholarship. Harvard Latino Law Review, 2: 1–501.  [Google Scholar], 1998 Valdes, F. (1998). LatCrit: Latinas/os and the law. La Raza Law Journal, 10: 1–600.  [Google Scholar]); WhiteCrit (see Delgado & Sefancic, 1997 Delgado R Stefancic J (Eds) (1997) Critical white studies: looking behind the mirror Philadelphia Temple University Press  [Google Scholar]); FemCrit (see Wing, 1997 Wing A (Ed.) (1997) Critical race feminism: a reader New York New York University Press  [Google Scholar]); AsianCrit (see Chang, 1993 Chang, R. (1993). Toward an Asian American legal scholarship: critical race theory, post‐structuralism, and narrative space. California Law Review, 81: 1243[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]).

Solórzano and Yosso (2001 Solórzano, D and Yosso, T. (2001). Critical race and LatCrit theory and method: counterstorytelling Chicana and Chicano graduate school experiences. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 14(4): 471–495. [Taylor & Francis Online] , [Google Scholar]) note that while each individual tenet of CRT is not ‘new’, synthesizing these tenets into a CRT framework in education is relatively recent. For instance, William Tate’s 1994 autobiographical article in the journal Urban Education—titled ‘From inner city to ivory tower: does my voice matter in the academy’—represents (to my knowledge) the first use of CRT principles in education. A year later, in 1995, Gloria Ladson‐Billings and William Tate wrote a paper titled, ‘Toward a critical race theory of education’ in the Teachers College Record. Two years later, Daniel Solórzano’s 1997 Solórzano, D. (1997). Images and words that wound: critical race theory, racial stereotyping and teacher education. Teacher Education Quarterly, 24: 5–19.  [Google Scholar] essay on ‘Images and words that wound: critical race theory, racial stereotyping and teacher education’ in Teacher Education Quarterly applied CRT to a specific subfield of teacher education. Also in 1997, William Tate’s ‘Critical race theory and education: history, theory and implications’ in the Review of Research in Education furthered our understanding of the history of CRT in education. The field was expanded significantly with the 1998 ‘Special issue on critical race theory in education’ in the International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education. The 1999 edited book on Race is—race isn’t: critical race theory and qualitative studies in education (Parker et al., 1999 Parker L Deyhle D Villenas S (Eds) (1999) Race is … race isn’t: critical race theory and qualitative studies in education Boulder CO Westview Press  [Google Scholar]) was followed by individual scholars presenting on panels at professional conferences across the country and publishing their work in various journals. In 2002, the journals Qualitative Inquiry and Equity and Excellence in Education dedicated a special issue to CRT in education. In 2004, the American Education Research Association conference symposium ‘And we are still not saved: critical race theory in education ten years later’ acknowledged the ten year anniversary of Tate’s 1994 article introducing CRT officially to education.

As is consistent with the concept of community cultural wealth, this working definition demonstrates an accumulation of collaborative work. Thank you to Daniel G Solórzano who originally conceptualized cultural wealth. He shared with me a model in progress and later a collaboratively written piece (with Octavio Villalpando), and asked me to ‘run with it’. Since that time, cultural wealth has taken on multiple dimensions. I also acknowledge those personal and professional experiences, community histories and students’ research projects that have informed this work. I look forward to the ways that cultural wealth will take on new dimensions as others also ‘run with it’.

Thanks to Rebeca Burciaga, whose identification of linguistic and familial capital added important dimensions to cultural wealth.

Thanks to UCSB undergraduate students, Pablo Gallegos, Moises Garcia, Noel Gomez and Ray Hernandez, whose research conceptualizing graffiti and hip hop poetry as unacknowledged sources of community cultural wealth expanded my thinking about linguistic capital.

Chicana scholars note for example that in Spanish, educación holds dual meanings (Delgado‐Gaitan, 1992 Delgado‐Gaitan, C. (1992). School matters in the Mexican American home: socializing children to education. American Educational Research Journal, 29(3): 495–513. [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar], 1994 Delgado‐Gaitan C (1994) Socializing young children in Mexican‐American families: an intergenerational perspective in: P. Greenfield & R. Cocking (Eds) Cross‐cultural roots of minority development New Jersey Lawrence Erlbaum Associates 55 86  [Google Scholar], 2001 Delgado‐Gaitan C (2001) The power of community: mobilizing for family and schooling Boulder CO Rowman and Littlefield Publishers  [Google Scholar]; Elenes et al., 2001 Elenes, CA, Gonzalez, F, Delgado Bernal, D and Villenes, S. (2001). Introduction: Chicana/Mexicana feminist pedagogies: Consejos respeto, y educación. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 14(5): 595–602.  [Google Scholar]). A person can be formally educated with multiple advanced degrees, but may still be rude, ignorant, disrespectful or unethical (immoral)—mal educada. On the other hand, a person with only a second grade formal education may be una persona bien educada or a well‐mannered, kind, fair‐minded, respectful (moral) individual.

The book Farewell to Manzanar (Wakatsuki Houston & Houston, 1973) offers a first‐hand account of some of the ways Japanese internees held onto hope, fostered caring, coping and responsibility, maintained skills of language, poetry, music, social networks and critical navigational skills, and challenged social and racial inequality.

I recognize that the notion of capital may be associated with capitalism, which is a system that is exploitative and has historically been an oppressive force against Communities of Color. The concept of schooling itself can be contradictory, given that schools have historically oppressed Students of Color, while still having the potential to be transformative places of empowerment. Similarly, as viewed through mainstream media, hip‐hop’s contradictory nature offers an example of how historically some aspects of community cultural wealth are co‐opted and utilized for exploitative purposes (see Spike Lee’s film Baboozled, 2000). Still, hip‐hop maintains amazing potential to be a revolutionary art form and transformative cultural expression that can inspire and inform social movement. I believe community cultural wealth and forms of capital nurtured in the histories of People of Color holds the same potential.