Creative Conflict
Creative Conflict examines the lives of Lincoln and Eleanor Ragsdale and their trail-blazing leadership during the height of the Civil Rights movement in
Phoenix, Arizona. Between 1953 and 1965, through dynamic leadership and interracial coalition building, they helped attack racial discrimination and destroy de jure segregation in Phoenix.
“Conflicto Creativo” examina las vidas de Lincoln y Eleanor Ragsdale y sus esfuerzos de liderazgo duranteel punto mas alto del movimento derechos civiles en Phoenix, Arizona. Entre 1953 y 1965, a través de su liderazgo y su trabajo de colaboración entre las razas, ellos ayurdaron a atacar la discrminación de raza destruir la segregación “de jure” en Phoenix.
Race was the atmosphere one breathed from day to day, the pervasive irritant, the chronic allergy, the vague apprehension which made one uncomfortable
and jumpy. We knew the race problem was like a deadly snake coiled and ready to strike, and that one avoided its dangers only by never-ending watchfulness.
BETWEEN 1953 AND 1965, fired with a passion for racial equality, Lincoln and Eleanor Ragsdale drew upon an arsenal of social-justice weapons in the battle for civil rights in Phoenix, Arizona. They helped dismantle an apartheid-like system in what is presently the sixth largest city in the U. S. The Ragsdales
and other western activists, though geographically isolated from the Civil Rights movement in the American South, were not strangers to white supremacy and black resistance. They were roused by years of racial discrimination, World War II, and America’s promise of democracy, and sustained by a swelling
African American population. They were also buoyed by the burgeoning postwar liberalism of a number of white western leaders. Armed with their experiences, hope, and passion, and aided by sympathetic white Phoenicians, the Ragsdales led the way in securing victories for racial justice in Phoenix.