I work for a liberal arts college. I am the only black in my department. For years, I was denied promotions because I didn't have a college degree. After a couple of years of working at the bottom, I finally recieved a degree and was promoted. Now, still the only black, job descriptions are being changed to suit other employees without degrees so that they can get better jobs. These new people are often promoted at a higher salary than my current salary eventhough they have less qualifications, skills and education. I recieve excellent performance reviews from my supervior. I have never been told that I make less money because I am black. However, I make less money than everyone in my classification. I have more duties, education, qualitications and seniorty.

Then the first thing you need to do is to go to human resources and tell them that you believe you are being paid less and denied opportunites because of your race and give them a chance to investigation and explain/demonstrate why that is not the case or resolve the situation. If, after that, you still feel you are being discriminated against, you may file a complaint with your State's equal rights division or the federal EEOC.

By the way, it's possible your race has nothing to do with this. Sometimes longer service employees are overlooked simply because they've been content to stay for so many years and management assumes they're not at risk of losing that individual due to an uncompetitive salary. I suggest you at least leave open the possibility initially that the issue isn't your race but merely oversight.