Ruth Carol Taylor

Ruth Carol Taylor

Ruth Carol Taylor was born on December 27, 1931, in Boston, Massachusetts. Taylor attended Elmira College and graduated as a Registered Nurse from the Bellevue School of Nursing in New York and worked as a nurse for the New York City Transit Authority. Irritated at the racial discrimination being shown to people of color, and the denial of them being able to apply for the position, Taylor applied for a job as a stewardess with Mohawk Airlines. Taylor was only one of about 800 black females who were interviewed by Mohawk Airlines, and in December 1957 was hired by the company. On February 11, 1958, Taylor became the first black female stewardess in the United States. However, after only six months she was let go due to another discriminatory barrier: the airline’s marriage ban, a common practice among airlines of the day of dismissing flight attendants who became either married or pregnant. While her career as a stewardess was short-lived, her contributions were not, and soon after she was hired, TWA also began hiring black flight attendants, and others followed.