( CNN ) -- Michael Jackson was an international superstar , and many in the black community herald him for breaking down racial barriers in the music industry . Michael Jackson was one of the first black global superstars . `` Michael Jackson made culture accept a person of color way before Tiger Woods , way before Oprah Winfrey , way before Barack Obama , '' said the Rev . Al Sharpton . `` Michael did with music what they later did in sports and in politics and in television . And no controversy will erase the historic impact . '' As the Jackson 5 , Michael Jackson and his brothers `` became a cutting-edge example of black crossover artists , '' said Mark Anthony Neal , a professor of black popular culture at Duke University 's Department of African and African American Studies . `` You basically had five working-class black boys with Afros and bell bottoms , and they really did n't have to trade any of that stuff in order to become mainstream stars , '' Neal said . Young Michael Jackson was the first black `` bubblegum teen star '' in the vein of Monkees singer Davy Jones , Neal said . Jackson continued as a pioneer in the black culture when he broke barriers by appearing on MTV , and by breaking sales records with the 1982 album , `` Thriller . '' Timeline : The life of a `` King '' » . `` At the time that he releases 'Thriller , ' I always argue that MTV was arguably the best example of cultural apartheid in the United States , '' Neal said . The former president of CBS Records , Walter Yetnikoff , remembered with scorn that MTV would not play `` Billie Jean '' or `` Beat It '' because it billed itself as a rock station . Looking back on that era , a 1991 Los Angeles Times article quoted MTV founder and then-CEO Robert Pittman as saying the channel 's format did n't lend itself to other musical styles , including R & B and country . And Pittman accused his critics of attempting to impose their musical pluralism on the channel 's die-hard rock fans . But Yetnikoff said he threatened to pull videos of his other artists unless MTV played Jackson 's videos . Watch Yetnikoff talk about getting Jackson 's videos played » . Soon Jackson 's videos were heavily in rotation on MTV . Showcasing a black artist paved the way for the popular show , `` Yo ! MTV Raps , '' and other black artists , Neal said . In turn , Jackson became one of the first African-Americans to be a global icon . He also influenced a new generation of black musicians , including Usher , Ne-Yo and Kanye West , according to Joycelyn Wilson , a professor of African-American studies at Morehouse College , who specializes in popular culture and hip-hop studies . Slideshow : Michael Jackson and his music » . Changing appearance . Jackson 's changing physical appearance in the past two decades led to criticism he was trying to be less black . `` Here 's a man who started off looking very typically African-American and ended up looking like something few people would have recognized early in his career . His nose was trimmed , his lips were different ... his skin was different , '' said Cheryl Contee , who writes as Jill Tubman on Jack & Jill Politics , a blog centered on African-American issues . `` The only thing that seemed to almost stay the same were his eyes , '' said Contee , who also called Jackson `` a genius and more than a trailblazer . '' `` I think [ it ] troubled a lot of people that he left his skin color behind and seemed somehow to be ashamed of who he was [ when ] he was born , '' Contee said . But during a 1993 interview with Oprah Winfrey , Jackson shot down rumors that he was dying his skin to make it lighter . He told the talk show host that he had vitiligo , a disorder that destroyed his skin pigmentation . Black popular culture professor Neal said Jackson 's physical changes did not reflect his life on the whole . `` I think if you solely pay attention to Michael Jackson 's physicality , you actually miss something that 's much more complex . ... Michael Jackson artistically and aesthetically never turned his back on blackness . His work was always in conversation with black culture both in the United States and more globally , '' said Neal . Neal said Jackson 's changes were not to deny blackness , nor to become more white . `` This was somebody who most of his career we read as being asexual . And I think that many of the changes to his face , particularly his skin tone , he was almost trying to achieve an a-raciality , '' said Neal . Contee upset some commenters on her blog when she highlighted both the positive and negative aspects of Jackson 's life , or what she termed his `` mixed legacy . '' `` Some people were very offended that I would dare to mention some of the unfortunate aspects of his later years , '' she said . `` But others [ acknowledged ] that they had mixed feelings about his legacy and what that meant to African-Americans . ''
Jackson 5 went mainstream and maintained black identity , professor says . MTV did n't play videos of black artists before Jackson . Expert : Despite his changing appearance , he was always in touch with black culture .