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Margena A. Christian, Emeritus professor, University of Illinois Chicago

Motown’s Black women songwriters and producers were the invisible architects behind the pop music juggernaut

Sylvia Moy was a trailblazing Motown songwriter. L. Busacca/WireImage for Songwriter's Hall of Fame

During the 1960s, in a country divided by racial strife, the music of Berry Gordy Jr.’s Motown Records helped bring people together.

Motown was noted for star performers like Mary Wells, The Miracles, The Supremes, The Temptations, Martha Reeves and the Vandellas, Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder. But, behind the scenes, a talented group of lesser known women were driving the hits in Hitsville U.S.A.

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