In high school and college, I was wary of soul (r&b) because the people I knew (i.e. white people--I was sheltered) who liked soul music were often tasteless bigots.

That was my mistake.

Music isn't good or bad because of the identity of the people who like it. Nor because of the identity of the people who make it.

Soul / r&b from the 60's-70's is some of America's greatest music.

Your playlist shows that there is a continuity and diversity of soul / r&b that goes back to doo-wop (and I would suggest to 40's blues) and takes on the flavor of the artists who delve into it.

And soul (r&b) reaches far beyond Black music and blue-eyed soul (e.g. the Righteous Brothers). Some of the more progressive British bands I admire were profoundly influenced by r&b.