OK, so white light is made up of many colors. But that doesn't explain why different things appear to be different colors! Why is grass green, if it's lit by white light? Why are tomatoes red? Why are dandelions yellow? Look at all the colors of things around you right now. Why do they look different, even though they're all being lit up by white light?
When white light hits an object (as the light must be doing if you can see the object), the light bounces off the surface toward your eye. This is called reflection. We usually think of reflection in terms of mirrors or other shiny surfaces, but even dull surface reflect a little bit. But (and this is a big but), not all of the light gets reflected. Some of it is absorbed by the molecules in the object, and you only see that colors that do not get absorbed. So, if you're wearing a red sweater right now (as Dr. B is), the only color that is reflected is red. There's a green book on my shelf - what color of light is reflected from it? What about from my blue coffee mug? You get the idea!
But what about things that are white? And how does black fit into this? White objects reflect all of the light toward your eye; nothing is absorbed. Black, on the other hand, absorbs every color, and nothing gets reflected from it.
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