The relationship between class racial composition and academic outcomes for black students is examined under a variety of conditions. These conditions include different degrees offriendship with whites, different characteristics of white peers (parents' education, academic values, IQ), and different characteristics of the black students' themselves. Data were obtained from samples of black students and white students in all I1 public high schools of Indianapolis, Indiana. Measures of academic outcomes include students' effort, grades, and achievement scores. Contrary to much of the thinking in the literature, attending predominately white classes did not benefit black students most when their white peers came from high-status families or had high academic values. Rather, attending mostly-white classes was associated with higher effort among blacks whose peers were from lower-education families and were not academically oriented. However, the impact of interracial contact on academic outcomes for blacks was small.