This literature review of nine books and journal articles from 1971-1981, proposes strategies for better understanding the self-disclosure of black college students in the counseling process. The paper presents the functions of self-disclosure which may influence a person's perception of the appropriateness of the self-disclosure, including: (1) expression; (2) self-clarification; (3) social validation; (4) relationship development; and (5) social control. Social cues which characterize these functions for blacks, and which may require that a counselor accept culture-specific differences, are reviewed. Several false assumptions which a white therapist may hold regarding blacks are outlined: denial of a client's racial/cultural background; belief that a black client's problems stem from being black in an oppressive environment; and the supposition that the therapist is an expert on black culture. A discussion of strategies which may be appropriate for a white therapist to use with black clients is presented and includes: encouraging the client to disclose using Black English; revealing the parameters which exist in a therapeutic relationship; examining disclosure flexibility changes across black and white clients; learning what topics are perceived by blacks as appropriate to communicate to a white person; and recognizing that blacks are not a homogeneous group. (AG)