This study compares the symptoms of public mental health patients diagnosed as having a depressive disorder, and then relates its findings to the previous literature concerning black-white differences in mental illness. Results of this study corroborate previous observations that a somewhat smaller proportion of black admissions than white admissions are diagnosed with a depressive disorder and that a higher proportion of black admissions are diagnosed with a schizophrenic disorder. Some black-white differences in depressive symptoms were corroborated—notably, slightly higher percentages of hostility, dangerousness, and somatic complaints in blacks—and these appeared to be independent of socio-economic status.