Research for this paper was undertaken to determine whether the black suburban growth during the 1970's was primarily a process of dispersal or concentration--that is, did blacks disperse into exclusively white neighborhoods or did they tend to concentrate in suburbs that already contained significant black populations. Census data from 1970 and 1980 were examined to find the following: (1) trends in the racial composition of certain locales; (2) types of racial residential change; and (3) distribution of people across suburbs. Long existing barriers to the entry of blacks into suburban communities were challenged in the 1970's, and exclusively white suburbs "opened up" to new black residents. However, the number of blacks involved in this dispersal process was small compared to the total black suburban population. Only a small proportion of blacks live in predominantly white suburbs, and this proportion did not increase between 1970 and 1980. Data are presented on seven tables and figures. A brief list of references is included. An appendix discusses the sampling methodology. (BJV)