By the 1960s, Ragsdale and Rev. George B. Brooks, respectively vice-president and president of the Maricopa County NAACP chapter, were organizing protests and meeting with local business leaders to end workplace discrimination that barred blacks from skilled jobs. Ragsdale also began to target segregation in public accommodations and facilities, and in 1962, echoing the 1960 Greensboro Woolworth's sit-ins, Lincoln and Eleanor organized protests at the local Phoenix Woolworth's stores.