Ruth Carol Taylor (born December 27, 1931) is 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]
Born in Boston, Massachusetts, into a family of Black, White, and Cherokee heritage, 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]
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]
American Airlines is a major airline in the United States headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, within the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. It is the largest airline in the world when measured by scheduled passengers carried, revenue passenger mile, and daily flights. American, together with its regional partners and affiliates, operates an extensive international and domestic network with almost 6,800 flights per day to nearly 350 destinations in 48 countries. American Airlines is a founding member of the Oneworld alliance. Regional service is operated by independent and subsidiary carriers under the brand name American Eagle.
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A flight attendant, also known as a steward or stewardess ; or air host or hostess, is a member of the aircrew aboard commercial flights, many business jets and some government aircraft. Collectively called cabin crew, flight attendants are primarily responsible for passenger safety and comfort.
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Betty Ann Ong was an American flight attendant who worked for American Airlines and boarded Flight 11, the first airplane hijacked during the September 11 attacks. Ong was the first person to alert authorities to the hijackings taking place that day. Shortly after the hijacking, Ong notified the American Airlines ground crew of the hijacking, staying on the radiophone for 23 minutes to relay vital information that led to the closing of airspace by the FAA, a first in United States history. For this, the 9/11 Commission declared Ong a hero.
This is a list of aviation-related events from 1958.
William A. "Pat" Patterson was the President of United Airlines from 1934 until 1966.
Mohawk Airlines was a local service carrier operating in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, mainly in New York and Pennsylvania, from the mid-1940s until its acquisition by Allegheny Airlines in 1972. At its height, it employed over 2,200 personnel and pioneered several aspects of regional airline operations, including being the first airline in the United States to hire an African American flight attendant, in 1958. The airline was based at Ithaca Municipal Airport near Ithaca, New York, until 1958, when it moved to Oneida County Airport in Whitestown, New York.
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The Association of Flight Attendants-CWA is a union representing flight attendants in the United States. As of January 2018, AFA represents 50,000 flight attendants at 20 airlines. Since 2004, AFA has been part of the Communications Workers of America (CWA), an affiliate of AFL–CIO. AFA is also an affiliate of the International Transport Workers' Federation.
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Beth E. Brant, Degonwadonti, or Kaieneke'hak was a Mohawk writer, essayist, and poet of the Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte First Nation from the Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory in Ontario, Canada. She was also a lecturer, editor, and speaker. She wrote based on her deep connection to her indigenous people and touched on the infliction of racism and colonization. She brought her writing to life from her personal experiences of being a lesbian, having an abusive spouse, and her mixed blood heritage from having a Mohawk father and a Scottish-Irish mother. Her published works include three edited anthologies and three books of essays and short stories.
Ellen Church was the first female flight attendant. A trained nurse and pilot, Church wanted to pilot commercial aircraft, but those jobs were not open to women. Still wanting to fly, Church successfully worked to convince Boeing Air Transport that using nurses as flight-stewardesses would increase safety and help convince passengers that flying was safe. Their first flight took off on May 15, 1930.
Mohawk Airlines Flight 405, a Fairchild Hiller FH-227 twin-engine turboprop airliner registered N7818M, was a domestic scheduled passenger flight operated by Mohawk Airlines that crashed into a house within the city limits of Albany, New York, on March 3, 1972, on final approach to Albany County Airport, New York, killing 17 people. The intended destination airport lies in the suburban Town of Colonie, about 4 miles north of the crash site.
Ruth Gruber was an American journalist, photographer, writer, humanitarian, and United States government official.
Linda Puchala is an American government official who has served as a member of the National Mediation Board (NMB) since 2009. Puchala is the former president of the Association of Flight Attendants.
"Flight 1" is the second episode of the second season of the American television drama series Mad Men. It was written by series creator Matthew Weiner and Lisa Albert, and was directed by Andrew Bernstein. The episode originally aired on AMC in the United States on August 3, 2008.
Patricia Noisette Banks Edmiston is an American who was one of the first Black flight attendants. She combated discriminatory practices in the United States by initiating a legal action against Capital Airlines via the New York State Commission Against Discrimination. She won the case which lead to the start of more airlines employing Black women.