William Henry Ragsdale

Image source: Vol 1: The Training School Quarterly April, May, June 1914

William H. Ragsdale (1855-1914) was the conceptual father of what would become East Carolina University. A professional teacher and academician, Professor Ragsdale, as he was called, was acutely aware of the need for teachers with formal college-level training in pedagogy, or the art of teaching. Very much the product of his day, Ragsdale never imagined, however, that East Carolina Teachers Training School would one day transcend the lines of racial segregation that defined public life in the early twentieth century. In addition to first advocating the creation of a teacher training school for the East, Ragsdale served as one of the charter faculty until his death in 1914.

Ragsdale was born and raised in Granville County, North Carolina. A Baptist, he later graduated from Wake Forest College. In the 1880s, he moved to Greenville and founded the Greenville Male Academy. A frequent speaker at educational conferences statewide, Ragsdale emphasized that education, as well as expansion of educational opportunities, was producing “a silent revolution” and a “universal change” in “the spirit of the people.” From 1891-1914, Ragsdale served as the Pitt County Superintendent of Public Instruction. He also served as president of the North Eastern Division of County Superintendents, and as president of the North Carolina Teachers’ Assembly. Various contemporary sources credit Ragsdale, a tirelessly dedicated educator-administrator, with having first formulated the idea of a training school for the eastern part of the state, and working vigorously for its establishment.

Profoundly aware of North Carolina’s “black-page-of ignorance, compared with her sister States,” Ragsdale was an ardent advocate of “progress” and “wide, deep, lasting, expansion educationally,” including private academies and a public school system to be supported by the North Carolina General Assembly. Ragsdale regularly endorsed the benefits of higher education in the state, and called for its continuing expansion. Following his death from tuberculosis on March 27, 1914, a memorial service was held in the auditorium of East Carolina Teachers Training School, at which Dr. James Yadkin Joyner, State Superintendent of Public Instruction, delivered the eulogy.

Sources

• “Funeral of Prof. Ragsdale.” Wilmington Morning Star, p. 7. April 2, 1914.
• “Hundreds Attend the Assembly. News and Observer. June 15, 1899. P. 6. Gale Document Number:GT3005819852.
• “Impressive Memorial Service at Greenville.” Wilmington Morning Star, p. 3. May 8, 1914.
• “In Memoriam.” Oxford Public Ledger, p. 3. April 11, 1914.
• “Prof. Ragsdale Dead.” Oxford Public Ledger, p. 5. April 1, 1914.
• “W. H. Ragsdale.” Training School Quarterly, Vol. 1, No. 1. April, May, June 1914. 30-31.

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