A number of years ago, while I was working for a unit of a major international bank, it happened that my one-time boss was British. During one especially tedious overseas trip, the talk at one place turned to class and he began a detailed description of the role class still played in British society in those days (the mid 1980s), the role of the "old school tie," and eventually to accents and how they were a source of prejudice. This fellow had distinctly left-leaning political views, so his sensitivity is a bit easier to understand.
As a result of my long-standing interest in early forms of the English language, I possibly can identify more "British" accents than the usual American, yet compared to a native I can only make broad distinctions and miss the fine-tuned nuance my boss was explaining.
It seems that he was born in Yorkshire and was convinced that Yorkshiremen were the object of prejudice throughout society owing to their accents.
Those that know about such things inform me that much of this prejudice is self-inflicted, but I digress.
"While I lived in Britain," he explained, "whenever I went into a business meeting, I had to talk for 30 minutes to prove I wasn't stupid, because of my accent."
Because of American attitudes about a broadly-identified "British" accent, he continued, "In America, I had to talk for 30 minutes to prove that I WAS stupid.
"The decision to emigrate was obvious ..."
----------------A Final Thought ...
"Alien. An American sovereign in his probationary state."
- Ambrose Gwinett Bierce (1842-1914?), US author, editor, cynic: The Devil's Dictionary (1881-1906)