In the history of Ukraine, the Black Council () was a council (rada) of Ukrainian Cossacks in which participated a large number of ordinary Cossacks, as well as local commoners (usually a Cossack rada was convened among the Cossack starshyna). The name comes from the Ukrainian word чернь (, "blacks"), a demeaning term for rank-and-file Cossacks and lowly folk in general, "plebs". The most famous of these was the Black Council of 1663.ЧОРНА РАДАOleksander Barvinsky, Історія України-Руси, p. 89Entry "Chorna rada" in Encyclopedia of Ukraine: Volume I: A-F plus Map and Gazetteer, p. 1367
Usually Black Rada signified drastic changes among the starshyna.Jacek Komuda, Bohun, 2011, p. 317
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