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Well you are on to something most Black Americans in NYC of indigenous background are about 2 generations removed from the South. What's interesting is the reverse migration that is occuring. I suspect Black Americans are appalled about so many foreigners in NYC and are heading back to cheaper more American environs. This may come across as offensive but I have heard this reason cited by Blacks who have left NYC.
Another interesting thing about NYC is it never drew a substantial internal white migration movement. For example whites from Appalachia migrated to Cincinnati, Baltimore, and Detroit but virtually bypassed NYC. Again this maybe attributed to train routes but I suspect the international nature of NYC also put them off.
I have also noticed the reverse migration going on amongst Blacks in NYC. I did not know it was because other outsiders from other areas of the world moving to NYC. I always thouoght it was too expensive to live in NYC. One AA lady told me she was paying more then 500 dollars in an housing project for the same amount of money she can go back to Alabama and have a mortgage for that price, and she did just that and you can have a gun. Blacks in NYC to me were part of the fabolous five like the IRish, Jews, Italians and Puerto Ricans who helped build and shape the culture of this city, but like the Blacks those other ethnic groups are also disapperaing and leaving the city while other immigrants and other generic white Americans from the middle of no where move to NYC. True indeed NYC never attracted White Americans from the south during the turn of the 20th century. Many migrated to Industrial heartland like Ohio, Detriot Michigan and Pittsburgh Pennslyvania. Not only that but NYC at the time was always dominated by immigrants. Only till recently with the downfall of the American economy particularly in the South that and other places of this country NYC has been recieving a high amount of Transplants.
[quote=EdwardA;17932604]Well you are on to something most Black Americans in NYC of indigenous background are about 2 generations removed from the South. What's interesting is the reverse migration that is occuring. I suspect Black Americans are appalled about so many foreigners in NYC and are heading back to cheaper more American environs. This may come across as offensive but I have heard this reason cited by Blacks who have left NYC.
[quote]
Um...no, there were foreigners here when they got here so that has nothing to do with it. Its the cost of living that tops the list.
Well it is an interesting question to ask because many Blacks in other parts of the country such as the midwest and west coast(California) do have southernesq accents.
I actually agree that there is something to this. It's taken 21 pages to discuss it because it's not so easily dismissed. I have often thought that Obama adopts a "black" accent when it's convenient for him. This was a private thought and not one I ever heard anyone else express. However, I just googled "Obama black accent" and apparently there are others who agree and they even have evidence in the form of videos. Is Obama's southern accent fake? (Video), page 1
If our president is doing this (and I am not saying everyone will agree with me on on this), it's not that much of a leap to think that this accent --whether it is actually Southern or not-- is adopted or put on by many other black people throughout the US in order to relate and identify with their race.
This is an intersting question since I tend to hear the southern accent in a lot of people that I meet. I am a first generation New Yorker so the accent is not pronounced in my speech but if you hear me say certain words, you would know that there are traces of southern speech there and that goes for most of the people in my family. One thing I do know for sure is that all Southerners do not carry a heavy southern accent so it may be that a lot of New Yorkers don't have the heavy accent but there is something there in which you can tell that there is some type of southern influence in their speech.
I asked if you've never met an African American whose parents were from abroad, because you said that all the African Americans you've met have ties to the South.
Say, two black people immigrate to the U.S. from another country, maybe a country in Africa, and have a kid here. Happens every day. You have never met any of those kids or their immigrant parents who have absolutely no ties to the South? That's hard to believe.
I am a 5th generation New Yorker born here in Brooklyn and lived here all my life. Like many my family migrated from North Carolina many years ago so the southern twang has long been erased from our speech. The interesting thing is that over a year ago I lived in South Carolina for a number of years......many times when I was out in a restaurant or shopping whenever I would open my mouth a lot of the southern people immediately knew I was from NYC and would ask me. The thing is that they could not distinguish what part of NYC because they did not understand that each borough has a slightly different NYC accent....with Brooklyn I believe having the strongest accent.
I can say one thing for sure it can be difficult sometimes living in the south with a NYC accent.....I had a hard time understanding them, found myself having to listen hard and I know they had a hard time understanding me but if I had a choice I would choose my NYC accent over a southern accent any day!
I asked if you've never met an African American whose parents were from abroad, because you said that all the African Americans you've met have ties to the South.
Say, two black people immigrate to the U.S. from another country, maybe a country in Africa, and have a kid here. Happens every day. You have never met any of those kids or their immigrant parents who have absolutely no ties to the South? That's hard to believe.
I guess he has met himself! His name is Bronxguyanese, after all.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bronxguyanese
I was born here in the bronx, parents come from south america a place called guyana.
I asked if you've never met an African American whose parents were from abroad, because you said that all the African Americans you've met have ties to the South.
Say, two black people immigrate to the U.S. from another country, maybe a country in Africa, and have a kid here. Happens every day. You have never met any of those kids or their immigrant parents who have absolutely no ties to the South? That's hard to believe.
Your question was confusing because African Americans are American. They wouldn't have come from abroad. The scenario described above is about two Africans moving to America. You are mixing up race and ethnicity. They are two different constructs.
The reverse migration of black Americans to the south has been happening since the 80s. A lot of young people moved south to attend college, stayed there and now have families there. Also, as older people retired, they moved south. This explains why ppl are traveling down I-95 for the holidays.
When I was growing up, we spent our holidays in Queens. I am a 5th generation New Yorker on my mom's side. My dad was born in Virginia but moved here at age two. Neither he nor his parents had southern accents.
Your question was confusing because African Americans are American. They wouldn't have come from abroad. The scenario described above is about two Africans moving to America. You are mixing up race and ethnicity. They are two different constructs.
The reverse migration of black Americans to the south has been happening since the 80s. A lot of young people moved south to attend college, stayed there and now have families there. Also, as older people retired, they moved south. This explains why ppl are traveling down I-95 for the holidays.
When I was growing up, we spent our holidays in Queens. I am a 5th generation New Yorker on my mom's side. My dad was born in Virginia but moved here at age two. Neither he nor his parents had southern accents.
I don't see what's so confusing. African Americans are American, such as the children of immigrants, who were born here. Black Americans, on the other hand, came here through slavery and have been here for hundreds of years.
My parents came here from Ghana. I was born in the United States and have no ties to the south. So, I am asking the other poster if he has never met an African American whose parents are from abroad. If he's referring to black Americans, that makes more sense.
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