Ragsdale Family Papers reveal rich history of Black leadership and impact in Arizona
Lincoln Ragsdale Sr. and Eleanor (Dickey) Ragsdale with their children, Elizabeth and Gwendolyn Ragsdale, in front of the Ragsdale Mortuary. Photo from the Ragsdale Family Papers collection/ASU Library
Civil rights advocates. Business owners. Community leaders. There are not enough words to describe the many hats Lincoln and Eleanor Ragsdale wore in their lifetimes.
The Ragsdale family shaped Phoenix in profound ways, and the family’s history is now part of the special collections at Arizona State University Library.
“The Ragsdales are one of those families that are integral to the understanding of Black history here in the Phoenix metropolitan area,” said Jessica Salow, assistant archivist of Black Collections at ASU Library.
“For people to know the depth and breadth of the work that this family did in the Phoenix area regarding Black history with all of the organizations that they were a part of, and how they advocated for Black rights here in the Southwest, is going to be very impactful in ensuring that people continue to realize the contributions of the Black community in this state.”
The Ragsdale Family Papers collection comprises photographs, correspondence, interviews and other materials documenting the lives of Lincoln Johnson Ragsdale Sr. (1926–1995) and Eleanor Odell Dickey Ragsdale (1926–1998) and their families.
From Ragsdale Sr.’s World War II military service with the Tuskegee Airmen, the family’s many businesses — including Ragsdale Mortuary, the Universal Memorial Center and the Valley Life Insurance Company — and their involvement with the Civil Rights Movement and various civic organizations in Phoenix, the collection offers a trove of history for students and researchers to discover.
The collection is made possible by Lincoln Ragsdale Jr., who is one of the Ragsdales' four children and graduated from the W. P. Carey School of Business in 1977.
"I’m so thankful to Lincoln Ragsdale Jr. for thinking about Black Collections as a place for his family's archive,” Salow said. “We are so proud and honored to be able to be the stewards of this collection, to share the great contributions of the Black community here in Arizona."
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Materials from the Ragsdale Family Papers prior to being processed including: The Daily Bulletin from Tuskegee Army Airfield in Tuskegee, Alabama, dated May 29, 1946 alongside a photograph of Tuskegee airman Cairo Collins, who served with Lincoln Ragsdale Sr.
Photo by Nancy Godoy/ASU Library
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Lincoln Ragsdale Sr. and other airmen with military planes, circa 1944.
Photo from the Ragsdale Family Papers collection/ASU Library
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Eleanor and Lincoln Ragsdale in front of the Century Skyroom Supper Club and Valley Life Building in Phoenix, Arizona.
Photo from the Ragsdale Family Papers collection/ASU Library
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Marchers at a public accommodations rally in 1962.
Photo from the Ragsdale Family Papers collection/ASU Library
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Martin Luther King Jr. arrives at Sky Harbor Airport in 1964.
Photo from the Ragsdale Family Papers collection/ASU Library
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Lincoln Ragsdale Sr. in front of Hayden Library on the Tempe campus for the inauguration of Arizona State University President Lattie Coor in 1990. Photo from the Ragsdale Family Papers collection/ASU Library
Uplifting the business community, working for civil rights
In the collection finding aid, viewers can read about the family’s long history in the undertaking industry and how they founded Phoenix’s first Black funeral home.
The Ragsdales were extensively involved in the Civil Rights Movement in Arizona; they helped to found the Greater Phoenix Council for Civil Unity in the late 1940s; worked to desegregate Phoenix’s school system in the early 1950s; and in later years, advocated for the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday in the state. In 1953, they became the first Black family to cross Phoenix’s red lineRedlining is a discriminatory practice in which financial services are withheld from neighborhoods that have significant numbers of racial and ethnic minorities. Source: Wikipedia.
“I am not a native Arizonan, so for me, this entire collection was fascinating," Salow said. "The contributions that this family made to Black culture in Arizona are incredible. They were the first to cross the red line, north of Van Buren and Jefferson, and what that meant for the Black community, which was mainly located in the Eastlake neighborhood region.”
In 1964, Ragsdale Sr. was at the Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport tarmac to welcome Martin Luther King Jr. before his speech at ASU. In 2014, that speech was discovered, and this new collection includes several photographs from King's arrival at the airport.
The Ragsdales owned a variety of businesses throughout their lifetime and overcame rejection and discrimination to build wealth in the Black community.
“They were powerhouses in the business industry, and they owned an incredible number of businesses, from insurance and mortuary work to the Century Sky Room restaurant and jazz club. Everything that they cultivated and did as a family was so unique,” Salow said.
Inspiring a new generation to examine Black history
While processing the collection with Associate Archivist Elizabeth Dunham, Salow also worked with two community college students to introduce them to community-driven archives.
Shelly Talas, who identifies as Black and Native American, was a student at Mesa Community College at the time; a yearlong archives fellowship offered her an opportunity to immerse herself in Black history.
“This fellowship opened my eyes to learning more about the Ragsdale collection, and it just kind of sparked something in me, getting to work with these materials hands-on,” Talas said.
"Coming into the collection, I knew Ragsdale Sr. worked in insurance, he was working in the mortuary business — but it wasn't until getting into the collection that I found out about the civil rights and other things that he did as well," she said.
Talas felt compelled to share her knowledge with her colleagues and community.
“The Ragsdale family were changemakers in the Phoenix community,” Talas said. "I work in insurance, so I thought that that was really cool, because I was able to place myself, identify myself in different areas of this collection.
“During Black History Month two years ago, I did a presentation at work on what I was doing with the Ragsdale family collection, and I could help inform others about how important this family is."
Bringing the past and future together
As Black Collections continues to grow, this new collection for students, scholars and community members is a significant milestone for Black history to be reflected in the institutional archive.
“Collections like the Eugene Grigsby collection, like the Ragsdale family collection, only bolster the understanding of how much more we need to be in the community and working with institutions to preserve Black history for the state of Arizona, and to have it available for the community to learn about," Salow said.
As Salow begins her fifth year leading Black Collections, her mission continues to bring more of this history to light in the archival record.
“My hope and my prayer is to get more people excited about wanting to dig deeper into Black history and to write and talk about it,” Salow said.
“I couldn’t be more grateful to Lincoln Ragsdale Jr. and the Ragsdale family for creating this opportunity right here at ASU.”
Explore the Ragsdale Family Papers collection
Make an appointment through Ask an Archivist to view the collection in the Wurzburger Reading Room inside Hayden Library.
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