‘This is how I speak’: The influence of the Black Chicago accent

A person’s accent can influence the way they are perceived. When it comes to broadcast journalism, the way a person talks is front and center and can open the door to both praise and unsolicited criticism. In our last episode, contributor Arionne Nettles looked at the Southern roots of the Black Chicago accent. It goes back to the Great Migration. Even though many Chicagoans are generations removed from their Southern relatives, some aspects of the accent persist for three main reasons: Black Chicagoans tend to live close to each other, they maintain relationships with family in the South and they like how the accent sounds. Today, we get personal with Nettles, who grew up on Chicago’s South Side. She’s a journalism professor at Florida A&M University, a culture reporter and author. As a person with the Black Chicago accent, she considered changing the way she spoke to pursue a career in broadcast journalism. She talks about what the accent means to her, and why she ultimately decided not to change it.

You can listen to ‘This is how I speak’: The influence of the Black Chicago accent online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

‘This is how I speak’: The influence of the Black Chicago accent is an episode from Curious City by WBEZ Chicago.

This episode is 00:18:51 long.

This episode was published on Apr 23, 2026.

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