This article focuses on black entrepreneurs of the United States. While rates of self-employment are typically lower among blacks when compared with either group, initiation rates of self-employment activities among black men and women are nearly three times that of white men and twice that of white women. The persistence in self-employment activities between 1979 and 1980 is similar among black males and white males and females but persistence is considerably lower and attrition higher among black women. Regression analysis of earnings within each racial and gender group on human capital characteristics shows the discrepancies in returns to investments among women and black men compared to white males. Self-employment adds considerably, although unequally, to the earnings of black and white males. Returns to self-employment among black females is positive yet insignificant, and self-employment is detrimental to the earnings of white women. Self-employment in agriculture and personal services, two industry groups in which self-employment among black males is large shows no significant pay-offs to self-employment In two industry groups, retail trade and repair, the black rate of return to self-employment is substantially larger than for whites.