Race Differences in Children's Responses to “Black” and “White”

Negro and Caucasian 7th graders made line drawings and semantic differential responses to 7 color names, including black and white. Caucasian semantic differential scores were similar to those found earlier by Williams; Negro scores were less similar. As hypothesized, Negroes evaluated black (compared to white) more favorably than Caucasians. Caucasians with better reading ability evaluated black less favorably. Negroes drew white with significantly simpler, heavier, more downward lines than did Caucasians and drew black with significantly smaller, lighter, more upward lines. It is suggested that for some groups (nonverbal) line drawings may provide a more appropriate measure of attitude than verbal responses.