This discussion of the economic, social, health, and educational crisis facing African-American children is based on 20 years of statistical data and the history of U.S. legislative programs for the benefit of children in this century. It is noted that children in general are not valued in the United States, and that African-American children in particular occupy a low priority on the American public policy agenda. The limitations of the well-intended Great Society programs for children are described, with specific attention given to Head Start (authorized under the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964), the Special Supplemental Food Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC, the Child Nutrition Act of 1966), and the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965. Discussion then turns to five promises that should be made to children now. Each promise relates to a right that every child should have, namely, the right to: (1) live in a loving family that has access to the support it needs to care properly for its children; (2) receive safe, affordable, high quality child care while his or her parents are at work; (3) be enrolled in a national health care system that afford him/her access to high quality health care and health providers; (4) live in a real home, and not a hotel, shelter, hostel, or half-way house; and (5) experience academic achievement and receive high quality education in a public school. Contains 44 references. (LB)