Information concerning the enrollment of black students in graduate and professional educational programs is presented. The data indicate that 1976-1977 was the turning point for black graduate participation in that actual enrollment and proportional representation has receded from those heights in subsequent years. Enrollment trends include the following: black graduate enrollment fell to 60,059 in fall 1980, an 8 percent drop from the peak of 1976-1977, while total graduate enrollment rebounded from a slight 1978 drop and surpassed 1,100,000; the decline in total black graduate enrollment in fall 1980 was precipitated by losses in part-time, rather than full-time students; in 1976-1977 black students made up 6.0 percent of total graduate enrollment, 5.1 percent of full-time graduate enrollment, and 6.6 percent of part-time graduate enrollment, while in fall 1980, these proportions were 5.5 percent, 5.0 percent, and 5.8 percent, respectively; in 1978 there was a 5 percent decline in first-year graduate enrollment and about a 10 percent drop in black first-year graduate students from 1976; one possible cause for the drop in first-year graduate enrollment is evident in a corresponding increase in professional enrollment; despite numerical growth, black first-professional students comprised only 4.6 percent of the 1980 total, compared to 4.5 percent both in 1976 and 1978; black graduate and professional students still rely disproportionately on historically black college (HBC) programs for access to advanced educational opportunity; almost 18 percent of HBC graduate enrollment was white and over 11 percent was international students; fall 1980 data reveal that black graduate students are still minimally represented in sciences and engineering. (SW)