 In 1960, he was arrested and sentenced to 60 days in jail for his role in a sit-in staged at segregated Georges' Drugstore in Hopewell.Later that year, he initiated a protest against the city's segregated swimming pool that culminated in the closure of the pool.In 1966, Harris led a peaceful demonstration to dissuade the city from building a landfill in Rosedale, a Hopewell African American community; and was confronted by the Ku Klux Klan on the steps of city hall.