Black English
African-American English
CliftonAfrican-American English is spoken in neighborhoods across the city and metro region and has been been a major influence, especially through music and popular culture, on other forms of English and other languages used in the city. Though forms have been spoken for centuries, it was the Great Migration of the 1920s and 1930s that brought large numbers of African-Americans from Southeastern states in particular (Georgia, the Carolinas) and played a decisive role in shaping the variety spoken today in New York.
T
he history of African-Americans in Staten Island dates back to the early 19th century, when a group of formerly enslaved people established Sandy Ground, a free Black settlement on the south shore of the island. The descendants of this initial group still live in the community today. In recent decades, the Park Hill and Clifton neighborhoods have been a major center for African-American life in the borough — most famously represented by the hip-hop group Wu Tang Clan, which formed in the Stapleton Houses in 1992.
Note that the language above may be used throughout the New York area — this is just one significant site.