Patricia Noisette Banks-Edmiston
( April 27, 1937)
She is an American who was one of the first black individuals in the flight attendant profession. She actively combated discriminatory practices in the United States by initiating legal action against Capital Airlines (merged into United Airlines in 1961) via the New York State Commission Against Discrimination. The case is believed to have paved the way for other airlines to begin employing black women.
Banks-Edmiston attended Queens College for a year to study psychology and was accepted into Grace Downs Air Career School in 1956. After completing her training to be a stewardess, Edmiston sought employment in various airline companies but encountered consistent rejections.
Patricia Banks enrolled in Grace Downs Air Career School anticipating a career as a flight attendant. After graduating with high scores, Ms. Banks and her classmates applied for positions with several airlines. Unlike her classmates, Ms. Banks was repeatedly denied employment. Over a ten-month period, she worked through the school to find employment without success. She was given numerous reasons for being passed over for a job including age, poor eyesight, and the need for dental work. During a subsequent interview with Capital Airlines, the head flight attendant finally told Ms. Banks that they did not hire Negroes as flight attendants. With the support of Representative Adam Clayton Powell, Ms. Banks filed a complaint against TWA, Mohawk, and Capital Airlines with the New York State Commission Against Discrimination. Because the statute of limitations had expired on her complaints against TWA and Mohawk, they were dropped. The complaint against Capital Airlines held strong. As a result of complaints brought by Banks and other black women to follow, Mohawk Airlines, a regional carrier named in several complaints, hired Ms. Ruth Carol Taylor in 1958 In 1960 the New York State Commission against Discrimination ruled in favor of Ms.Banks and ordered Capital Airlines to hire her within 30 days. The commission’s conclusion: “We entertain no doubt that Miss Banks would have been re-interviewed and
employed, had she been white.”
After 1961
Banks-Edmiston worked as a counselor at the Addicts Rehabilitation Center in New York City from 1970 to 1972, followed by being hired as a program manager on the New York City Manpower Planning Council. In 1974, Edmiston became a program manager at the New York State Office of Alcohol and Substance Abuse Services, and she earned a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Empire State College the following year. She went back to the Addicts Rehabilitation Center in 1999, serving as a consultant until 2015. Between 2000 and 2002, she also worked with American Airlines Medical Wings International. She also served on the board of directors for the Black Flight Attendants of America and was captain of the disaster team for the American Red Cross from 1999 to 2001. Banks-Edmiston holds a black belt in Shotokan.
Awards
Edmiston was inducted into the Black Aviation Hall of Fame at the National Civil Rights Museum and has been honored by the Smithsonian.