Education
Ragsdale graduated from Cheyney University of Pennsylvania in 1947 with a bachelor"s degree in education.
Ragsdale graduated from Cheyney University of Pennsylvania in 1947 with a bachelor"s degree in education.
Organizations
Collaboration with the Mexican American community
In the 1960s Ragsdale collaborated with Grace Gill-Olivarez to desegregate schools and to promote better educational opportunities for Mexican American, African American, and other minority students. "Eleanor Ragsdale helped Gill-Olivarez solicit funds to defray the costs for a number of Mexican American high school students to attend evening job-training workshops, and she also worked with administrators at Arizona State University to establish financial aid programs for both incoming African American and Mexican American students". Despite Ragsdale"s efforts, no unified coalition was able to form.
Yet, even as Ragsdale and her colleagues won a victory in desegregating Phoenix schools in 1953, enrollment of white students in these schools dropped, leaving minority students in underfunded, poorly administered schools which created new racial tensions between the African American and Mexican American communities.
She also served as a member of The Links, Incorporated and clubs and associations advocating women"s rights.
