Ruth Carol Taylor

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

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.

Taylor attended Elmira College and graduated as a registered nurse from the Bellevue School of Nursing in New York City.

Career Hired in December 1957, She was let go within six months as a result of Mohawk's then-common marriage ban.

Taylor was later significantly involved in covering the 1963 March on Washington and as an activist for consumer affairs and women's rights. 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.