The history of jazz is as splintered as any music out there. We all tend to pay homage to those who came before that advanced or changed the history of "whatever." Just as Wynton Marsalis does so in his excellent series on The Duke, so did Ellington in recognizing Whiteman. And make no mistake, Whiteman was an early influence of major proportion.

I doubt there was much of a racial element to it as I think there were far fewer racial divisions in jazz than the rest of society. I could be wrong......just a personal opinion.

Spaw