Race Work : The Rise of Civil Rights in the Urban West

by Whitaker, Matthew C.

• ISBN13: 9780803248212
• ISBN10: 0803248210
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2005-11-01
• Publisher: Univ of Nebraska Pr

Summary

Nearly sixty years ago, Lincoln and Eleanor Ragsdale descended upon the isolated, somewhat desolate, and entirely segregated city of Phoenix, Arizona, in search of freedom and opportunity--a move that would ultimately transform an entire city and, arguably, the nation.Race Worktells the story of this remarkable pair, two of the most influential black activists of the post-World War II American West, and through their story, supplies a missing chapter in the history of the civil rights movement, American race relations, African Americans, and the American West. Matthew C. Whitaker explores the Ragsdales' family history and how their familial traditions of entrepreneurship, professionalism, activism, and "race work" helped form their activist identity and placed them in a position to help desegregate Phoenix. His work, the first sustained account of white supremacy and black resistance in Phoenix, also uses the lives of the Ragsdales to examine themes of domination, resistance, interracial coalition building, race, gender, and place against the backdrop of the civil rights and post-civil rights eras. An absorbing biography that provides insight into African Americans' quest for freedom,Race Workreveals the lives of the Ragsdales as powerful symbols of black leadership who illuminate the problems and progress in African American history, American Western history, and American history during the post-World War II era.

Author Biography

Matthew C. Whitaker is an assistant professor of history and ASASU 2004–2005 Centennial Professor at Arizona State University. He is also an affiliate faculty in African and African American Studies and the School of Justice and Social Inquiry at ASU.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations	viii
List of Tables	ix
Acknowledgments	xi
Introduction: The Quest for Racial Equality in Phoenix	1	(24)
Part 1. Power Concedes Nothing without Demand
1. The Black Professional Tradition	25	(38)
2. Tuskegee, World War II, and the New Black Activism	63	(26)
3. Mobilization, Agitation, and Protest	89	(44)
Part 2. Creative and Persistent
4. Resistance and Interracial Dissent	133	(40)
5. The Quickening	173	(26)
6. Black and Chicano Leadership and the Struggle for Access and Opportunity	199	(26)
Part 3. Moving Forward Counterclockwise
7. The Struggle for Racial Equality in Phoenix, 1980-2000	225	(42)
Conclusion: Racial Uplift in Phoenix	267	(18)
Appendix A. African American Population in the Phoenix Metropolitan Area and Selected Suburbs, 2000	285	(1)
Appendix B. Regional Racial Distribution in Selected Arizona Cities, 2000	286	(1)
Appendix C. Selected American Western Cities with Black Populations Exceeding Fifty Thousand as of 2000	287	(1)
Appendix D. Ragsdale Businesses and Financial Enterprises	288	(1)
Appendix E. Professional Organizations and Boards for which Lincoln Ragsdale Served	289	(1)
Appendix F. Professional Organizations and Boards for which Eleanor Ragsdale Served	290	(1)
Appendix G. Lincoln Ragsdale's Honors and Distinctions	291	(2)
Notes	293	(48)
Bibliography	341	(28)
Index	369