In response to criticisms of the study of the Committee on the Status of Black Americans, the study director and committee chairman discuss the following: (1) participant selection process; (2) consultation with scholars; (3) chairman's qualifications; (4) study group organization; (5) theoretical orientation; (6) sponsoring organization's role;…

The history of the Committee on the Status of Black Americans of the National Research Council is described. Its assignments are: (1) to collect data describing the changing position of blacks in America since 1940; (2) to describe the cultural context of those changes; and (3) to explore consequences of initiatives to ameliorate the position of…