The self-concepts of black fourth grade students in Austin, Texas, were studied to ascertain the effect of 36 sessions, 30 minutes each, of oral reading of literature containing black characters, both historical and fictional. Along with a pre- and posttest, the Piers-Harris Self Concept Test (an inventory of yes/no responses to 80 statements about one's self), the Children's Self-Social Constructs Test (a nonverbal measure of self-social items of horizontal and vertical esteem, complexity, individuation, and identification with mother, father, teacher, and friends), and self-drawings in color by the students were used. Divided into three groups, the experimental group was exposed to literature with black characters, the placebo control group to literature without black characters, and the control group to no oral reading of literature. Analysis of the data revealed: (1) a lower self-concept of the experimental group even though they had higher scores on the Children's Self-Social Constructs Test; (2) all groups on the posttest scores displayed less complexity, individuation, and identity with teacher and a greater identification with father; and (3) children in the experimental group used brown less frequently as the skin color in self-drawings at the end of the period than in their first self-drawings. (Author/HS)