Ruth Carol Taylor

Ruth Carol Taylor (December 27, 1931 – May 12, 2023) was the first African-American flight attendant in the United States.^[1] Her first flight was aboard a Mohawk Airlines flight from Ithaca to New York City in 1958.^[2]

Early life

Born in Boston, Massachusetts, into a family of Black, White, and Cherokee ancestry, her mother was Ruth Irene Powell Taylor, a nurse, and her father was William Edison Taylor, a barber. When Ruth was young, her family moved to a farm in upstate New York.^[3]

Taylor attended Elmira College and graduated as a registered nurse from the Bellevue School of Nursing in New York City.^[4][5][6]

Career

Hired in December 1957,^[6] on February 11, 1958, Taylor was the flight attendant on a Mohawk Airlines flight from Ithaca to New York, the first time such a position had been held by an African American.^[7] She was let go within six months as a result of Mohawk's then-common marriage ban.^[8]

Taylor was later significantly involved in covering the 1963 March on Washington and as an activist for consumer affairs and women's rights.^[5] She wrote The Little Black Book: Black Male Survival in America (1985), whose purpose is to "save lives - the lives of Black African Males who are on the Endangered list"^[9] in view of the endemic racism in the United States towards African-Americans.

In 2008, 50 years after her historic flight, her accomplishments were formally recognized by the New York State Assembly.^[5]

Death

Taylor died on May 12, 2023, at the age of 91.^[10]

See also

• Patricia Banks Edmiston