Ragsdale, Paul B.

Born in 1945, Paul B. Ragsdale was one of the first African American legislators in Texas since Reconstruction. Growing up the son of a barber in a rural area near Jacksonville, Texas, Ragsdale went on to earn a sociology degree from the University of Texas at Austin. He was elected to represent Dallas as a democrat in the 1972 state elections. A champion of African American and Hispanic rights, Ragsdale fought racial bias in the workplace and played an active role in state politics. In 1973 he applied for food stamps to protest his $4,800 annual pay as a legislator.

From the guide to the Paul B. Ragsdale Papers, 1972-1987, ({extref} Dolph Briscoe Center for American History; The University of Texas at Austin)