Garifuna
Ocean Hill-Brownsville +3The most widely accepted account of the origins of the Garifuna people is that they are largely descended from West Africans who were transported to South America as slaves but escaped due to a fortuitous shipwreck off the island of St. Vincent, in the Lesser Antilles. Having arrived at St. Vincent, they intermarried with a local Indigenous Arawak tribe, adopting many elements from their culture such as the cultivation of cassava and its related technology, as well as their singing styles and language. Today, the Garifuna language is spoken primarily in Honduras and Belize, with smaller numbers of speakers in Nicaragua and Guatemala. A large population now lives in the United States as well, particularly New York City — with most Honduran Garifunas in the Bronx and most Belizean Garifunas in Brooklyn. Read more here.
E
astern Brooklyn, including a swath of neighborhoods centered on Brownsville, is a major center for Belizean Garifuna, who largely settled among other English speakers from the Caribbean. Linden Park in Brooklyn is a major gathering point, and some have moved into Queens, including Far Rockaway. Settlement Day, celebrated at Our Lady of Mercy Church on Mother Gaston Boulevard, is an annual commemoration of the exile from St. Vincent.
Note that the language above may be used throughout the New York area — this is just one significant site.