Summary The hypothesis was advanced that ethnic consciousness would be superior to monetary and social rewards in facilitating performance on school-related tasks. The S s were low-socioeconomic-status black children drawn from fourth and fifth grades of a public elementary school in a large urban center. Ss were assigned to four experimental groups: social rewards, ethnic consciousness, monetary reward, and control (no incentive). The Raven Coloured Progressive Matrices and a paired-associate task were the dependent measures. Results indicate that ethnic consciousness enhanced performance at a significantly higher level than did the monetary reward and no-incentive conditions. Monetary and social rewards did not differ significantly. We need to re-examine the notion that material incentive is more effective than symbolic rewards in influencing the motivational system of black children.