Although education frequently serves as a means of advance for underprivileged Americans, few Philadelphia blacks were able to take full advantage of this opportunity during the 1930s. These interwar years gave rise to a variety of economic issues that forced Negro teachers and public school administrators to choose between educational advantages for their students and their own economic security. When faced with a choice between general race elevation and middle class security, Philadelphia's black bourgeoisie regulated education for the Negro masses to secondary importance. Although race and class interests of black Philadelphians occasionally complemented one another (such as in the demand for hiring black teachers and administrators in secondary schools), when specific issues required solutions, no black concensus appeared. Like other members of the black middle class, teachers are less than totally committed to strong race conscious policies if their personal and class welfare appear threatened. Given the dilemma faced by black Philadelphians, the role of the educator within the Negro community is confusing, especially when dealing with a long standing problem such as school integration. Had Philadelphia negroes been able to resolve the dilemma between race and the class consciousness and to unite in racial solidarity, the benefits to black people of every class might well have been much greater than the token achievements of the 1930s. (Author/AM)