Day 4 of Black History Month we Salute: Mrs. Ruth Carol Taylor

Today We are Saluting Mrs. Ruth Carol Taylor (1931– ) for her contrubution in the field of Avaition.

Ruth Carol Taylor
photo courtesy thesavvysistah.com

Ruth Carol Taylor was the first African-American airline flight attendant in America. She made the historic mark back on February 11, 1958.

After working as a nurse, Taylor challenged the discriminatory practices of the airlines industry by applying for a stewardess position at Trans World Airlines (TWA). When she was rejected, Taylor filed a complaint.

When upstart regional carrier Mohawk Airlines said it would hire minorities, she applied and was selected out of 800 applicants. But just six months later, Taylor’s career ended due to another discriminatory barrier: the airline’s marriage ban, a common practice among airlines of the day of dismissing flight attendants who  either married or became pregnant.(blackamericaweb.com)

Becoming unfulfilled, Taylor decided to break the color lines that existed in the airline industry, and in 1958 she decided to apply for a flight attendant position (known then as a stewardess) at Trans World Airlines (TWA). Taylor was rejected merely based on her skin color and ethnicity. Angered by the injustice, she filed a complaint against the company with the New York State Commission of Discrimination.

It was around that time that Mohawk Airlines—a regional airline carrier—expressed interest in hiring minority flight attendants, and she applied for a position. Selected from 800 black applicants, Taylor was hired in December 1958 and became the first black flight attendant on a flight from Ithaca to New York City on February 11, 1959.(thesavvysistah.com)

Taylor was later significantly involved in covering the 1963 March on Washington and as an activist for consumer affairs and women's rights.^[3]

In 2008, fifty years after her historic flight, her accomplishments were formally recognized by the New York State Assembly.^[3](wikipedia.org)

Work Cited:
"Little Known Black History Fact: Ruth Carol Taylor, First Black Flight Attendant." Black America Web RSS. N.p., 05 June 2014. Web. 05 Feb. 2015.

"Ruth Carol Taylor : First African American Female Flight Attendant." The Savvy Sistah. N.p., 23 Nov. 2011. Web. 05 Feb. 2015.

"Ruth Carol Taylor." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 05 Feb. 2015.