The singer was among a generation of "black pop crossover artists" that includes Michael Jackson and Eddie Murphy, says popular culture expert Mark Anthony Neal.

Mark Anthony Neal
Professor of African and African American Studies, Duke University.
http://aaas.duke.edu/people?Gurl=%2Faas%2FAAAS&Uil=man9&subpage=profile
Video: http://leftofblack.tumblr.com/

Neal is an expert on popular culture, host of the weekly webcast "Left of Black," a prolific blogger and the author of several books, including "Songs in the Key of Black Life."

Quote:
"Whitney Houston is part of a generation of what I called 'black pop crossover artists' that would include Eddie Murphy, the late Michael Jackson and even basketball player Michael Jordan, in that they had unprecedented amount of access to the American mainstream.

"We had never seen that level of black celebrity before. Her success in that mainstream was really unprecedented."