The psychological experience of Afiican Americans has no exact parallel in human history. Exposed to three centuries of slavery, discrimination, and the constant, if unconscious, fear of unequal treatment by the majority culture, African Americans may have developed a unique psychology that requires a special sensitivity and approach from the counselor. This collective psychology, we have observed in our clinical practice, seems to be characterized by a volatile triad of emotions and behaviors, dominated by hostility, hopelessness, and a paranoid perception of discrimination in most cross-racial encounters. Such a disparate trinity of thoughts and emotions was not accidental but joined together by bitter historical experience. The expression of historical hostility in African Americans can be as mundane as a daily defensiveness against non-Blacks and other African Americans, which may be misinterpreted as a hardness or unkindliness. But it can also escalate into a rage or lashing out in protest, unrest, or excessive violence at some real or perceived indignity dealt by the majority culture. This latter phenomenon was seen in the uproar and rioting by African Americans in Los Angeles Clemmont E. Yontress is professor emeritus and Laurence R. Epp is a doctoral candidate, both h the Department of Counseling at he George Washington Uniwrsity, Washington, Dc.