Argues that black mothers in the U.S. are adversely affected by the white stereotype of the quiet passive baby, citing evidence that in Africa, black neonates show a rapid growth in motor development, while in Mexico, Mayan Indian babies, just minutes old, demonstrate a precocious development in sensory perception. (Author/JM)

The goal of this paper is to combine selected research literature concerned with early and advanced sensorimotor development in black children, and the institutional management of their natural precocity. The first section briefly reviews selected literature about sensorimotor development in black children. The second section discusses the current…