>I've always felt that r&b acts basically did everything from
>doo wop, soul, disco, funk, yauht-rock, boogie, electro-funk,
>smooth jazz, new jack swing, & pop, but record labels never
>considered their music in the same category as their white
>counterparts who did soft rock, blue-eyed soul, shoegaze, new
>wave, etc.
>


This was very much the case. Different artists have spoken on this. James Brown said Sam Cooke's "You Send Me" wasn't an R&B song at all but a Pop song and was only called R&B because he was black. If I recall correctly, they spent a good bit of time on that topic in the documentary I watched. Any music back then by a black person was just "Black Music" or "Race Music" as they'd call it.