Admittedly it may seem strange to include a band as huge as Guns N Roses in a list of groups that including prominent African-American members and have traditionally struggled for recognition in Rock - but Guns N Roses actually does fit perfectly. For starters, one of their key original members if Black. Just like Lenny Kravitz whom he went to HIgh School with, and Tom Morello, Saul "Slash" Hudson is half-black and half-white. Even 20 years after their founding many of their fans don't even realize this, particularly since in their early days he was hardly visible behind his "Cousin It" mop of hair and ever-present top hat due to his natural shyness.
Also G 'n R was hardly an immediate overnight success, in fact they had been on tour for more than a year after releasing their debut CD "Appetite for Destruction" with it's lead off single "Welcome to the Jungle" failed to crack the Top 40. It may be considered a classic now, but outside of stations like KNAC and Headbangers Ball - (only after label head David Geffen's personal pleas to MTV) - they were initially a flop.
If things didn't turn around soon, they would've went the same way that Tom Morello's original band Lock Up - who were also signed to Geffen went with a multi-album deal - they would've been dropped!
The fact is that G 'n R didn't become an "It" band until the release and heavy rotation of the power-balad "Sweet Child O' Mine" on MTV. Hearing their songs on KNAC, which tended to play tracks like "Out to get me", I already owned a copy of the album on vinyl using the original cover with the dagger-toothed monster attacking a robot that had just molested a girl collapsed on the ground.
With "Sweet Child 'O Mine" on the charts the band was able to move onto bigger tours, such as the opening for Aerosmith which is when the video for "Paradise City" was shot.
Their second CD "G 'N R Lies" included a set of live punk-inflected Aerosmith covers and a second side of acoustic originals including their next big hit "Patience". However that CD also included their next controversial song "One in a million" which included lines like the following>
Police and Niggers, get out of my way Don't need to buy any of your gold chains today Or have my hands clasped in front of my back I'm just a small town white-boy, why can't you cut me some slack
About this time GnR were had managed to be added as the opening band to the Los Angeles dates for the Rolling Stones "Steel Wheels" tour, which also featured the band Living Colour. When members of Living Colour were asked about the song and what they felt about G 'n R on the air at LA radio station KROQ, let's just say that sparks started to fly.
Here's the thing though, I had a copy of G n R lies and on the cover is actually an apology for that song. "This songs if very generic, and I apologize to anyone who may take offense". Plus the point of the song is actually about rising above negativity - so it makes sense that you have to include some negativity in order to make that point. Axl didn't really appreciate being called "Racist" - which I can understand - and he did argue that black people used the word too but confronting Living Colour's bassist at the stadium, who hadn't been on the KROQ interview, didn't help. The entire issue prompted a fairly heated discussion at the next Black Rock Coalition meeting at UCLA which I attended along with Vernon Reid of Living Colour. Did Axl have a point?
Frankly during that meeting we were split on the issue. Vernon felt that the word had a historical meaning that couldn't be escaped. Some of the rest of us felt that a words meaning is linked to your intent and context at the time. Some black guys did call each other "Nigga", but very often that actually meant "brother", "friend" or "partner". "Yeah, he my nigga!" - while there were times that they too used it to attack and wound.
I felt that the word in and off itself didn't make a difference - what mattered was your meaning. People can attack each other all kinds of ways even without that particular word. You could call someone "Mud Duck" with vicious intent and still have the same impact.
At any rate G n R lived through this difficulty and many many more - even if the entire line up of the band eventually changed almost completely leaving Axl as the only original member. Over the long haul they've had a major impact on Rock, but not much of an impact of Rock and Race either way even with Slash's presence - which as you can see by his complete invisibility on the "One in a Million" controversy - didn't make that much of a difference to the Electric Purgatory so many other black rock artists have faced..
The fact is that G 'n R didn't become an "It" band until the release and heavy rotation of the power-balad "Sweet Child O' Mine" on MTV. Hearing their songs on KNAC, which tended to play tracks like "Out to get me", I already owned a copy of the album on vinyl using the original cover with the dagger-toothed monster attacking a robot that had just molested a girl collapsed on the ground. 
About this time GnR were had managed to be added as the opening band to the Los Angeles dates for the Rolling Stones "Steel Wheels" tour, which also featured the band Living Colour. When members of Living Colour were asked about the song and what they felt about G 'n R on the air at LA radio station KROQ, let's just say that sparks started to fly.