Early literacy research in the United States has significantly shaped instructional practice and educational policy for young children, yet growing scholarship questions whether this research adequately accounts for the cultural and linguistic realities of African American children. This dissertation presents a quantitative systematic review of 81 peer-reviewed empirical studies on early literacy instruction involving African American children published between 2010 and 2025, guided by Bronfenbrenner's Bioecological Systems Theory and Critical Race Theory. Findings reveal a persistent pattern of theoretical exclusion and methodological bias. Nearly all studies (96.3%) relied exclusively on Western theoretical frameworks, while only one study (1.2%) incorporated a culturally responsive framework. Studies were disproportionately conducted in low-income settings, and only 25% explicitly acknowledged cultural or linguistic limitations. The proportion of studies with no acknowledgment of African American cultural context remained consistently high across all three time periods — 77.3%, 65.6%, and 80.0% — with no meaningful progress over the 15-year span, even following heightened national attention to racial equity after 2020. These findings indicate that early literacy research has failed to meaningfully evolve to reflect the cultural assets, linguistic diversity, or systemic contexts of African American children. The dissertation concludes with recommendations for integrating Culturally Responsive Education frameworks into research design, adopting dialectically sensitive assessment tools, and establishing professional development standards that prepare educators and researchers to engage equitably with African American children's literacy development.