Lincoln Ragsdale’s Emancipation
Proclamation Radio Shows

Robert Spindler
Curator, Arizona Collection
Speaking the Unspeakable Conference
Saturday February 18, 2017
rob.spindler@asu.edu

Lincoln Ragsdale
• Founded Ragsdale Mortuary and
Valley Life Insurance Co.
• Known for their integrated
workforce and opportunities for job
training and advancement for black
workers.
• Lincoln and Eleanor were important
civil rights leaders in the Valley’s
black community

Maricopa County NAACP
• Lincoln Ragsdale was Vice
President
• Worked with NAACP President
Rev. George Brooks of
Southminister Presbyterian
Church on employment
discrimination issues
• Brooks good cop / Ragsdale
bad cop

Emancipation Proclamation Radio
Shows
• KCAC radio, 1963-1964
• Austin Coleman, host
• 30 minute Sunday morning gospel
music show
• NAACP update by Ragsdale in
every broadcast

KCAC Radio Show Clips
• Eyewitness account:
El Rey Café Sit-in, ca.
September 1, 1963
• Echoes the March on Washington of
August 28th
• “Stepped Up” Integration movement
• “Decency” in housing, education,
employment
• Christian faith gives “strength”
• We Shall Overcome

KCAC Radio Show Clips
• Ragsdale’s Easter message
Sunday March 22, 1964
• Christian values of equality and
brotherhood
• Compares the sacrifice of Jesus to
those of the community “What price
are you willing to pay?”

For More Information
• Lincoln Ragsdale Emancipation Proclamation Audio
Recordings (google: Lincoln Ragsdale Audio)
• Matthew C. Whitaker, Race Work: The Rise of Civil Rights in
the Urban West, 2005
• Mary Melcher, “Blacks and Whites Together: Interracial
Leadership in the Phoenix Civil Rights Movement” Journal of
Arizona History 32(2):195-216 (1991).

Lincoln Ragsdale’s Emancipation
Proclamation Radio Shows

Robert Spindler
Curator, Arizona Collection
Speaking the Unspeakable Conference
Saturday February 18, 2017
rob.spindler@asu.edu