Study of cancer mortality trends in the United States re.,ealed an increasing nonwhite-to-white ratio of age-adjusted death rates. Non-white predominance began in 1950 for females and in 1956 for males. In females the shift resulted from a decline in death rates among whites, as rates for nonwhites remained unchanged, and in males from rates which rose over time in both races, but more rapidly in nonwhites. Each cancer site is analyzed with respect to its race differential and change in nonwhite mortality. The shift to nonwhite predominance in cancer mortality is probably due to many factors, but parallel trends in cancer incidence suggest that nonwhites are more exposed or vulnerable than whites to carcinogenic factors.