 Such records were labeled "race records" in reference to their marketing to African Americans, but white Americans gradually began to purchase such records as well.In the 16 October 1920 issue of the "Chicago Defender", an African-American newspaper, an advertisement for Okeh records identified Mamie Smith as "Our Race Artist".Most of the major recording companies issued "race" series of records from the mid-1920s to the 1940s.