DATA sample;
    INPUT id race;
    DATALINES;
    1 1
    2 1
    3 2
    4 3
    5 1
    6 2
    7 4
    8 3
    9 1
    ;
RUN;

PROC FORMAT;
    VALUE raceft 1 = 'White'
                 2 = 'Black'
                 3 = 'Asian'
                 4 = 'Other';
RUN;

PROC PRINT DATA=sample;
    FORMAT race raceft.;
RUN;

Obs    id    race
 1      1    White
 2      2    White
 3      3    Black
 4      4    Asian
 5      5    White
 6      6    Black
 7      7    Other
 8      8    Asian
 9      9    White

sample <- data.frame(id = c(1:9),
                     race = c(1,1,2,3,1,2,4,3,1))
sample$race <- factor(x = sample$race,
                      levels = c(1:4),
                      labels = c("White","Black","Asian","Other"))

> sample
  id  race
1  1 White
2  2 White
3  3 Black
4  4 Asian
5  5 White
6  6 Black
7  7 Other
8  8 Asian
9  9 White

> dput(sample$race)
structure(c(1L, 1L, 2L, 3L, 1L, 2L, 4L, 3L, 1L), .Label = c("White","Black", "Asian", "Other"), class = "factor")