Importance of Black English Black language is a primary symbol of cultural identity and is a source of much of the Afro-American expressive culture in existence, and is a central part of rap and poetry. "Rap music has its beginnings in inner-city Black neighborhoods, and though the role of Chicano musicians in the early history of rap is beginning to be recognized (Del Barco 1996), its most prominent exponents have been African-American for the most part." …showed first 75 words of 732 total…

…showed last 75 words of 732 total…that they can claim is "theirs". Work Cited Smitherman, Geneva. 1994. Black Talk: Words and Phrases from the Hood to the American Corner.Boston, New York: Houghton Mifflin. Smitherman, Geneva. 1977. Talkin and Testifyin: The Language of Black America. Detroit Dillard, J.L. 1975. "General Introduction:Perspectives on Black English". in Dillard, J.L., ed. Perspectives on Black English. The Hague: Mouton, 1975 Traugott, Elizabeth Closs. 1976. "Pidgins, Creoles, and the Origins of Vernacular Black English" in Harrison and Trabasso 1976.