"Whitewashing" Blacks in the 1960s

Seen on video: negroes singing at the Big Sur music festival in late 1969.

Seeing them singing reminded me of an interesting fact about Black artists that few White people know about.

Back about 1960, Black "Motown" singers [1] such as Marvin Gaye were sent to a "racial training camp" of sorts. There, they were taught how to "act more White." They were taught how to downplay negro mannerisms and up-play White mannerisms. See? This made the negro Motown artists more "presentable" to White audiences and therefore allowed them to sell more records. (It was actually a smart move from a business standpoint, but it also had the negative feature of making Blacks "seem more like White people").

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[1] "Motown" means "Motortown" aka "Detroit" and it also refers to a certain style of popular Black music. "Motown" is now a catch-all term for 60s-era "Black Soul/R&B music"

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