Overview

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 Work tells 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 Work reveals the lives of the Ragsdales as powerful symbols of black leadership, professionalism, entrepreneurship, and activism, symbols that illuminate the problems and progress in African American history, American Western history, and American history during the post-World War II era. 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.

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9780803248212

Table of Contents

Reviews

Race Work moves African American western history to a new level of sophistication. This book is a rare dual biography of a remarkable couple, Lincoln and Eleanor Ragsdale. But it is much more. Race Work examines class dynamics in the African American community, including the tension between the pursuit of material success and racial responsibility, the gendered visions and expectations of male and female 'leadership,' the history of the civil rights movement in a major western city, and the failure of coalition building among people of color. Quintard Taylor, author of In Search of the Racial Frontier: African Americans in the West, 1528-1990 Race Work is a well-researched, readable, engrossing, and long overdue examination of a tumultuous time of social injustice in the U.S. that no proud American has a right to ignore. More importantly, this book is a fascinating retrospective on the struggle for civil rights in Arizona. Matthew Whitaker skillfully immortalizes this story in the pages of this compelling history. This is a must read for all who would understand the importance of the struggle in the West; a struggle fought with strength, pride and purpose, by ordinary people of extraordinary value. Phil Gordon, Mayor of Phoenix In Race Work, Matthew Whitaker vividly demonstrates how individuals make history. This book significantly advances our understanding of the legacies of African Americans who have called the Southwest home. Vicki L. Ruiz, author of From Out of the Shadows: Mexican Women in the Twentieth-Century America

Author Information

Matthew C. Whitaker is an associate professor of history at Arizona State University. He is also an affiliate faculty member in African and African American studies and the School of Justice and Social Inquiry at ASU.

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