English First (lobbying organization)

English First is a lobbying organization for the English-only movement in the United States founded in Springfield, Virginia in 1986 by Larry Pratt.

The organization's web site shut down in March 2021.

Further reading

• Reimers, David M. (1998). Unwelcome Strangers: American Identity and the Turn Against Immigration. New York: Columbia University Press. U.S. English bankrolled several successful state campaigns. California in 1986, the same year that English First was founded, became the most important state to adopt an official English proposition (Proposition 63). San Francisco had been ...
• Adams, Karen L.; Brink, Daniel T. (1990). Perspectives on Official English: The Campaign for English as the Official Language of the USA. p. 3. Another, less well-known group is English First, whose motto is "Our symbol is the statue of liberty torch, capturing the spirit of ...
• Moraes, Marcia (1996). Bilingual Education: A Dialogue with the Bakhtin Circle. p. 63. One group is the 100,000-member English First, of Springfield, Va. The other, U. S. English, with 240,000 members, was established in 1983. . . . These two groups ... not alone on this issue. There are other lobbying groups ...
• Teyechea McNeil, Nicole (2008). Nilingualism: Life Histories of Bilingual Teachers Working within English-only referendums in Arizona and California. p. 85. ... on behalf of the English First organization. Crawford (1996) has linked the founder to white supremacists. English First was established in 1986 as a movement that believes "that the English language unites America. They are tired of seeing ..."
• Field, Fredric (2011). Bilingualism in the USA: The case of the Chicano-Latino. p. 288. English First
• Drachman, Edward R.; Langran, Robert (2008). You Decide: Controversial Cases in American Politics. p. 76. "However, critics such as the English First organization deem it a mistake as it detracts from the learning of English by new immigrants which, among other things, will retard their assimilation into American culture.
• Pedalino Porter, Rosalie (2011). American Immigrant: My Life in Three Languages. p. 422. ... the Center for Equal Opportunity, and me at the READ Institute. In fact, we three had been honored the previous September at a Washington, D.C., press event sponsored by the English First organization, with "Leadership Awards" presented ..."
• Pullum, Geoffrey K. (1991). The Great Eskimo Vocabulary Hoax and Other Irreverent Essays. The English First organization, with its highly un-American hostility to immigrants (immigrants other than Anglos like me, of course) ...
• Negrón-Muntaner, Frances; Grosfoguel, Ramón (1997). Puerto Rican Jam: Rethinking Colonialism and Nationalism. p. 266. "The English First organization also publicly advocated for Puerto Rico's right to be separate and independent. Privately, the group also asked members to donate money to impede statehood efforts." Finally, while it is possible to read the ...
• Nunberg, Geoffrey (September 1989). "Linguistics and the Official Language Movement". Language. 65 (3): 579–587. doi:10.2307/415223. JSTOR 415223. More extreme approaches to language policy have been taken by the Virginia-based 'English First' organization and the Texas-based American Ethnic Coalition. Until recently, their political activities appear to have been restricted largely to ...

See also

• Federation for American Immigration Reform
• English Plus