"Black and White" is a song written in 1954 by David I.
Arkin and Earl Robinson. The most successful recording of the
song was the pop version by Three Dog Night in 1972, when it
reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
The song was inspired by the United States Supreme Court
decision of Brown v. Board of Education that outlawed racial
segregation of public schools. The original folk song was first
recorded by Sammy Davis Jr. in 1957. The original lyrics of the
song opened with this verse, in reference to the court:
The reggae group Greyhound recorded and had a top ten UK hit
with the song in 1971.[1] Having heard the Greyhound version,
which did not include the verse referring to the court, Three
Dog Night included the song in their 1972 album,
Seven Separate Fools. This version of the song peaked at
number one on the U.S. pop chart on September 16, 1972; it also
topped the U.S. adult contemporary chart for one week.