"Dr.Lincoln J. Ragsdale Sr.(1926-1995)

Was a leading activists in the battle for civil rights in Arizona.After graduating from Tuskegee flying school in Alabama in 1945,he relocated to Luke Air Field in Litchfield Park,Arizona,becoming one of the first black pilots to serve at that installation.After setting in Phoenix,Lincoln became one of the local NAACP,Phoenix Urban League,and Greater Phoenix Council for Civil Unity (GPCCU).Through his activists work,Lincoln led the way in desegregating Phoenix.In 1953 Lincoln helped desegregate the Encato District,Phoenix most affluent and segregated neighborhood.Also in 1953 he helped desegregate Phoenix high schools  one year before Brown V. Board of education.He also helped desegregate Phoenix's most influential corporations as early 1962 including Motorola,General Electric and Sperry Rand.In 1963,he positioned himself as a cornerstone of a political campaign that wrested Phoenix city government away from an elite group of white civic leaders.Between 1963 and 1992,he fought for diversity in Phoenix's public and private sectors,and for entrepreneurial opportunities for people of color in Arizona.Lincoln also played a major role in the Martin Luther King Holiday movement in Arizona,an effort that ended after twenty years of struggle when Arizona became the first state to create a Martin Luther King holiday by popular vote in November of 1992.