Joan Dorsey

Joan Dorsey

Joan Dorsey was the first African-American flight attendant hired to work for American
Airlines.

In 1963, Joan Dorsey became the first African American hired by American Airlines. Ms. Dorsey applied for a job at American after finishing a degree in education at the University of Arizona. Dorsey graduated at the top of her class from what was then known as “Stewardess College” and began her career based in New York. She retired from the airline in 1999, after 36 years of service.

By the early 1970’s there were almost one thousand African American Flight Attendants working at airlines in the United States. By this time, airline management no longer had a preference for only light-skinned black women and had stopped requesting that black Flight Attendants avoid destinations in the southern United States due to possible hostility and discrimination from passengers.