Eleanor Dickey Ragsdale was one of the most distinguished activists, educators, and entrepreneurs in Arizona history. In 1947 she graduated from the historically black Cheyney University in Pennsylvania. The university’s main mission was to cultivate African American teachers, who would become leaders in their local communities. Not long after Ragsdale graduated from Cheyney, she migrated to Phoenix to being a career as a kindergarten teacher at Dunbar Elementary School. Her teaching career was brief, however, because she soon retired from teaching to pursue business opportunities, and to join her husband Dr. Lincoln J. Ragsdale as a leader of Phoenix’s burgeoning civil rights movement.She became a charter member of the local NAACP, Phoenix Urban League, and Greater Phoenix Council for Civic Unity (GPCCU). Through her activism, Ragsdale helped desegregate Phoenix, currently the fifth largest city in the U.S. In 1953, she led the way in desegregating Phoenix’s Encanto District, the city’s most affluent and segregated neighborhood. Also in 1953, she helped desegregate Phoenix high schools one year before Brown v. Board of Education. Eleanor Ragsdale negotiated political partnerships across race lines, worked with black churches in myriad “mutual aid” projects, and served in various black women’s clubs and associations, such as The Links, Inc. and Delta Sigma Theta Sorority. She was arguably the most influential black woman in Arizona during the height of state’s civil rights movement.
Lincoln J. Ragsdale, who was trained as one of the pioneering black American fighter pilots of World War II and who later became a civil rights leader and entrepreneur in Phoenix and the Southeast, died on June 9 at his home in Paradise Valley, a suburb of Phoenix. He was 69.
The cause was colon cancer, said his son, Lincoln J. Ragsdale Jr.
Commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Army Air Corps in November 1945, he was part of the Government first steps to integrate the armed forces. The integration program, which began in January 1941, was made up of 1,000 black fighter pilots who were trained at Tuskegee Army Air Corps Field in Alabama and later distinguished themselves in Europe and Asia.
In a 1983 interview with The Arizona Republic, Dr. Ragsdale described the lift the squadron provided for black Americans. "I remember when we used to walk through black neighborhoods right after the war and little kids would run up to us and touch our uniforms, 'Mister, can you really fly an airplane?' The Tuskegee airmen gave blacks a reason to be proud."
He often said that such experiences helped move him toward the civil rights movement. As head of the Phoenix branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, he played a major role in organizing and leading sit-ins in the early 1960's.
He made a fortune in insurance, real estate and mortuary businesses in Arizona, Alabama, Louisiana and Texas, among others. He served on more than a dozen boards, including those of the National Conference of Christians and Jews and the National Urban League.
A native of Ardmore, Okla., he graduated from Arizona State University and earned a doctorate in business administration from Union Graduate School in Cincinnati.
Besides his son, of Sacramento, Calif., he is survived by his wife of 46 years, Eleanor Dickey Ragsdale; three daughters, Elizabeth Ragsdale and Emily Ragsdale of Phoenix and Gwendolyn Ragsdale Madrid of Prescott Valley, Ariz.; a brother, Hartwell Ragsdale 2d of San Diego and a granddaughter.
A history of victory and hope - [Cached Version]Published on: 2/27/2002 Last Visited: 2/28/2002
You don't know enough about Arizona history if you don't know the contributions of African-Americans William P. Crump, Dr. Winston Hackett, W.A. Robinson, Lincoln Ragsdale and Arlena Seneca. ...• Ragsdale, who died in 1995, played a critical role during the integration struggles of the 1950s and 1960s. A member of the famed Tuskegee airmen and the first Black pilot at Luke Air Base, Ragsdale, like so many veterans, decided to stay in Arizona after the war. According to historian Whitaker, Ragsdale's life symbolized the role the Black veteran saw for himself in those days: "Victory abroad (over fascism), victory at home (over racism)." Successful in several businesses, he and the Rev. George Brooks pressed White Phoenix to end its desegregation policies in all sorts of areas. It was Ragsdale who finally bypassed the race-restricted homeowner deeds and bought a home in a White neighborhood, on West Thomas Road. These were important moments in Arizona history.We thought that February, Black History Month and the 90th anniversary of Arizona's statehood, was a good time to recall their stories, their struggles and their triumphs. Their victories are those of Arizona as well.
Excerpt: Race Work: The Rise of Civil Rights in the... - [Cached Version]Published on: 1/31/2007 Last Visited: 11/16/2008
African Americans such as Lincoln Ragsdale joined the armed services to fight America's fascist enemies while resisting white supremacy and their own subordinate status at home. ...Led by individuals such as Lincoln and Eleanor Ragsdale, black people established and restructured protest organizations that formed the backbone of the modern civil rights movement. ...Lincoln Ragsdale's experiences during the World War II era illuminate the problems and progress that marked this riotous period. The experience that would most profoundly influence Ragsdale's life during this era was his tenure in the military, culminating with his graduation from the Tuskegee Army Air Corps Flying School in Tuskegee, Alabama. To understand Lincoln and Eleanor Ragsdale's significance as business and civil rights leaders in Phoenix after World War II, one must grasp the importance of the war in shaping their views of democracy and freedom and the necessity of African Americans to fight for them more urgently at home. ...A new generation of black Americans became soldiers during World War II, and many, such as Lincoln Ragsdale, would come forth from the war with a fortified awareness of who they were and a renewed dedication to fight for African American equality. Unlike World War I, more black soldiers had earned their high school and college diplomas by World War II. Many more black servicemen and women, particularly those from professional, activist backgrounds like Lincoln's, were proud, self-confident, and aware of their own value and dignity as human beings and Americans. For thousands of black servicemen, the armed services offered them their first exposure to a world free of legal segregation. For Lincoln and many others serving in the military during World War II, the conflict inspired them, their families, and their friends to raise critical questions about America's racial order. After finishing his after-school studies and secondary education at Douglass High School in Ardmore, Lincoln took the air corps entrance exam in Oklahoma. He enlisted on July 14, 1944. Lincoln immediately prepared to be assigned to a training installation and relocated. Despite his hard work and practice, he failed the written examination the first two times he took it. After finally passing the written portion of the test, he then "flunked the physical." At five feet six and a half inches tall and weighing 130 pounds, Ragsdale was not a large, muscular, imposing man. Generally, however, he was healthy and in good condition. He had no reason to believe he would have trouble passing the routine physical examination. "My eyes were good, my depth perception was good," he recalled, "everything was good except my pulse." Ragsdale's average standing heart rate was around 150. When he was instructed to jump up and down, his heart rate would climb to 200. He was told by the test administrators that he was "going to flunk this thing again" if he could not maintain a lower heart rate during increased physical activity. Ragsdale was informed that one more failed attempt would bring about his dismissal. Concerned, Ragsdale consulted a doctor who prescribed a sedative to help him relax. When he took the test again, his standing heart rate "was beating about 50." After he jumped up and down for a short period of time again, his heart rate registered 80. This conspicuous improvement in his heart rate gave the examiner pause. The test administrator believed it was "better than perfect." This dramatic change made it necessary for Ragsdale to take the test yete again. The next time his heart rate was recorded at 45. Confused and no doubt exasperated, the examiner reluctantly gave Ragsdale a passing grade. After finally completing his examination in Oklahoma, Ragsdale relocated briefly to Howard University in Washington DC. At the time, Howard and Wilberforce universities were the only "Negro" universities offering reserve officer training. As the war escalated and the likelihood of black pilot training increased, the Roosevelt administration considered the schools to be pools from which to recruit air corps officer candidates. Ragsdale's temporary stop in the nation's capital ushered in a series of sobering events. While stationed at Howard, Ragsdale was not present to accept and sign for his air corps certified recruitment letter ordering him to report to basic training. Since he was not present, Ragsdale recalled, "they didn't give it to anybody." After some searching, they eventually solicited the support of his mother, who gave the air corps representatives his address in Washington. Soon after, a cohort of military police (MPS) brandishing "guns and big sticks" arrived at Ragsdale's residence in Washington announcing that they were going to take him to jail. When he asked the MPs what he did to warrant the arrest, they told him that he had failed to report for service. The MPs took him to the military base at Fort Meade, Maryland. It is not clear whether he was subjected to any disciplinary action. Once at Fort Meade, Ragsdale received a number of required inoculations and for ten days prepared for another transfer. As a "preaviation cadet," he was ordered to escort ten men south to the military base in Biloxi, Mississippi. He and the recruits boarded a train at Fort Meade and headed south, stopping briefly in St. Louis. There, the black recruits were not met by what Ragsdale described as traditional "southern hospitality." Rather, they were met by southern white hostility and Jim Crow segregation. An official at the train station told Ragsdale and the rest of his party that they could not ride the Pullman train and that they had to remove themselves. Irritated, Ragsdale reminded the official that he and the other recruits had purchased tickets to ride the train and that they had every intention to do so. An argument ensued between the two, which resulted in Ragsdale and his entire cohort being thrown off the train. As he threw them off, the train controller bellowed, "No Negro is going to be riding on this train to Mississippi." Ragsdale, realizing that the group was going to arrive in Mississippi behind schedule, phoned the base in Biloxi to inform his commander that as "Negroes," the group was denied access to Pullman trains. Ragsdale was told that it made no difference that they were military personnel. Racial segregation penetrated every segment of society, and the air corps provided no special protections. The administrator who received Ragsdale's call was not concerned about the indignities and problems the recruits faced. "Look here, nigger," the officer barked, "you better be on that train and get down here the best way you can, right now, wherever they put you." After a day and a half of waiting, the men managed to secure transportation. Ragsdale and his group were most likely made to wait until a train became available with few if any whites on board. Many black soldiers were forced to wait until trains and buses had been loaded with white soldiers before they were permitted to board. They arrived at Keesler field in Biloxi and were housed in a segregated section of the base called the "KK." In the segregated bivouacs of the KK, Ragsdale went through three months of basic training and a battery of examinations. What Ragsdale remembered most about his introduction to the military was not the physical challenge of basic training or the cerebral demands of the tests. What stood out in his mind was the unequal and demeaning nature of military segregation. Black soldiers were banned from almost all of the places where white soldiers trained and relaxed. African American soldiers were not allowed to enter a military club to dine or drink. "(When) we wanted a beer," Ragsdale recalled, "we went to the window and asked for it. White guys walked inside. We had to stay on the outside to get it." Despite this unequal treatment, many black soldiers made the most of the opportunities to better themselves. For example, "many of the brothers, blacks, who came to the induction station to get basic training couldn't read and write," Ragsdale asserted. "The good thing" about their military experience, however, was that it "made them go to school." There were around five hundred preaviation cadets in Biloxi when Ragsdale arrived. "They eliminated, of the five hundred of us, about four hundred and fifty," he remembered. Having succeeded in his training, Ragsdale was one of a relatively small number of recruits who were given the opportunity to attend officer training. He and the other remaining preaviation cadets were relocated to Tuskegee Flying School to receive pilot training. At Tuskegee, Ragsdale underwent intense instruction and myriad psychological challenges. Cadets at Tuskegee were subjected to the rigors of pilot training and the frustrations of being black in an institution dominated by white leaders who possessed deep-seated notions of white supremacy. During one of his first days at Tuskegee, in fact, one of Ragsdale's commanding officers told him and his fellow trainees to "look at
June Black History Month Calendar - [Cached Version]Published on: 11/2/2001 Last Visited: 12/15/2002
June 9, 1995 - Lincoln J. Ragsdale, pioneer fighter pilot of World War II, dies.Get The Book: American Patriots : The Story of Blacks...
You don't know enough about Arizona history if you don't know the contributions of African-Americans William P. Crump, Dr. Winston Hackett, W.A. Robinson, Lincoln Ragsdale and Arlena Seneca. ...• Ragsdale, who died in 1995, played a critical role during the integration struggles of the 1950s and 1960s. A member of the famed Tuskegee airmen and the first Black pilot at Luke Air Base, Ragsdale, like so many veterans, decided to stay in Arizona after the war. According to historian Whitaker, Ragsdale's life symbolized the role the Black veteran saw for himself in those days: "Victory abroad (over fascism), victory at home (over racism)." Successful in several businesses, he and the Rev. George Brooks pressed White Phoenix to end its desegregation policies in all sorts of areas. It was Ragsdale who finally bypassed the race-restricted homeowner deeds and bought a home in a White neighborhood, on West Thomas Road. These were important moments in Arizona history.We thought that February, Black History Month and the 90th anniversary of Arizona's statehood, was a good time to recall their stories, their struggles and their triumphs. Their victories are those of Arizona as well.
Excerpt: Race Work: The Rise of Civil Rights in the... - [Cached Version]Published on: 1/31/2007 Last Visited: 11/16/2008
African Americans such as Lincoln Ragsdale joined the armed services to fight America's fascist enemies while resisting white supremacy and their own subordinate status at home. ...Led by individuals such as Lincoln and Eleanor Ragsdale, black people established and restructured protest organizations that formed the backbone of the modern civil rights movement. ...Lincoln Ragsdale's experiences during the World War II era illuminate the problems and progress that marked this riotous period. The experience that would most profoundly influence Ragsdale's life during this era was his tenure in the military, culminating with his graduation from the Tuskegee Army Air Corps Flying School in Tuskegee, Alabama. To understand Lincoln and Eleanor Ragsdale's significance as business and civil rights leaders in Phoenix after World War II, one must grasp the importance of the war in shaping their views of democracy and freedom and the necessity of African Americans to fight for them more urgently at home. ...A new generation of black Americans became soldiers during World War II, and many, such as Lincoln Ragsdale, would come forth from the war with a fortified awareness of who they were and a renewed dedication to fight for African American equality. Unlike World War I, more black soldiers had earned their high school and college diplomas by World War II. Many more black servicemen and women, particularly those from professional, activist backgrounds like Lincoln's, were proud, self-confident, and aware of their own value and dignity as human beings and Americans. For thousands of black servicemen, the armed services offered them their first exposure to a world free of legal segregation. For Lincoln and many others serving in the military during World War II, the conflict inspired them, their families, and their friends to raise critical questions about America's racial order. After finishing his after-school studies and secondary education at Douglass High School in Ardmore, Lincoln took the air corps entrance exam in Oklahoma. He enlisted on July 14, 1944. Lincoln immediately prepared to be assigned to a training installation and relocated. Despite his hard work and practice, he failed the written examination the first two times he took it. After finally passing the written portion of the test, he then "flunked the physical." At five feet six and a half inches tall and weighing 130 pounds, Ragsdale was not a large, muscular, imposing man. Generally, however, he was healthy and in good condition. He had no reason to believe he would have trouble passing the routine physical examination. "My eyes were good, my depth perception was good," he recalled, "everything was good except my pulse." Ragsdale's average standing heart rate was around 150. When he was instructed to jump up and down, his heart rate would climb to 200. He was told by the test administrators that he was "going to flunk this thing again" if he could not maintain a lower heart rate during increased physical activity. Ragsdale was informed that one more failed attempt would bring about his dismissal. Concerned, Ragsdale consulted a doctor who prescribed a sedative to help him relax. When he took the test again, his standing heart rate "was beating about 50." After he jumped up and down for a short period of time again, his heart rate registered 80. This conspicuous improvement in his heart rate gave the examiner pause. The test administrator believed it was "better than perfect." This dramatic change made it necessary for Ragsdale to take the test yete again. The next time his heart rate was recorded at 45. Confused and no doubt exasperated, the examiner reluctantly gave Ragsdale a passing grade. After finally completing his examination in Oklahoma, Ragsdale relocated briefly to Howard University in Washington DC. At the time, Howard and Wilberforce universities were the only "Negro" universities offering reserve officer training. As the war escalated and the likelihood of black pilot training increased, the Roosevelt administration considered the schools to be pools from which to recruit air corps officer candidates. Ragsdale's temporary stop in the nation's capital ushered in a series of sobering events. While stationed at Howard, Ragsdale was not present to accept and sign for his air corps certified recruitment letter ordering him to report to basic training. Since he was not present, Ragsdale recalled, "they didn't give it to anybody." After some searching, they eventually solicited the support of his mother, who gave the air corps representatives his address in Washington. Soon after, a cohort of military police (MPS) brandishing "guns and big sticks" arrived at Ragsdale's residence in Washington announcing that they were going to take him to jail. When he asked the MPs what he did to warrant the arrest, they told him that he had failed to report for service. The MPs took him to the military base at Fort Meade, Maryland. It is not clear whether he was subjected to any disciplinary action. Once at Fort Meade, Ragsdale received a number of required inoculations and for ten days prepared for another transfer. As a "preaviation cadet," he was ordered to escort ten men south to the military base in Biloxi, Mississippi. He and the recruits boarded a train at Fort Meade and headed south, stopping briefly in St. Louis. There, the black recruits were not met by what Ragsdale described as traditional "southern hospitality." Rather, they were met by southern white hostility and Jim Crow segregation. An official at the train station told Ragsdale and the rest of his party that they could not ride the Pullman train and that they had to remove themselves. Irritated, Ragsdale reminded the official that he and the other recruits had purchased tickets to ride the train and that they had every intention to do so. An argument ensued between the two, which resulted in Ragsdale and his entire cohort being thrown off the train. As he threw them off, the train controller bellowed, "No Negro is going to be riding on this train to Mississippi." Ragsdale, realizing that the group was going to arrive in Mississippi behind schedule, phoned the base in Biloxi to inform his commander that as "Negroes," the group was denied access to Pullman trains. Ragsdale was told that it made no difference that they were military personnel. Racial segregation penetrated every segment of society, and the air corps provided no special protections. The administrator who received Ragsdale's call was not concerned about the indignities and problems the recruits faced. "Look here, nigger," the officer barked, "you better be on that train and get down here the best way you can, right now, wherever they put you." After a day and a half of waiting, the men managed to secure transportation. Ragsdale and his group were most likely made to wait until a train became available with few if any whites on board. Many black soldiers were forced to wait until trains and buses had been loaded with white soldiers before they were permitted to board. They arrived at Keesler field in Biloxi and were housed in a segregated section of the base called the "KK." In the segregated bivouacs of the KK, Ragsdale went through three months of basic training and a battery of examinations. What Ragsdale remembered most about his introduction to the military was not the physical challenge of basic training or the cerebral demands of the tests. What stood out in his mind was the unequal and demeaning nature of military segregation. Black soldiers were banned from almost all of the places where white soldiers trained and relaxed. African American soldiers were not allowed to enter a military club to dine or drink. "(When) we wanted a beer," Ragsdale recalled, "we went to the window and asked for it. White guys walked inside. We had to stay on the outside to get it." Despite this unequal treatment, many black soldiers made the most of the opportunities to better themselves. For example, "many of the brothers, blacks, who came to the induction station to get basic training couldn't read and write," Ragsdale asserted. "The good thing" about their military experience, however, was that it "made them go to school." There were around five hundred preaviation cadets in Biloxi when Ragsdale arrived. "They eliminated, of the five hundred of us, about four hundred and fifty," he remembered. Having succeeded in his training, Ragsdale was one of a relatively small number of recruits who were given the opportunity to attend officer training. He and the other remaining preaviation cadets were relocated to Tuskegee Flying School to receive pilot training. At Tuskegee, Ragsdale underwent intense instruction and myriad psychological challenges. Cadets at Tuskegee were subjected to the rigors of pilot training and the frustrations of being black in an institution dominated by white leaders who possessed deep-seated notions of white supremacy. During one of his first days at Tuskegee, in fact, one of Ragsdale's commanding officers told him and his fellow trainees to "look at
June Black History Month Calendar - [Cached Version]Published on: 11/2/2001 Last Visited: 12/15/2002
June 9, 1995 - Lincoln J. Ragsdale, pioneer fighter pilot of World War II, dies.Get The Book: American Patriots : The Story of Blacks...
