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Feb. 1, 2013 Issue 399A US Airways Employee Publication

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Ruth Carol Taylor stepped on board a Mohawk Airlines aircrat ty-ve years ago

this February and ew into history. The Convair 580 aircrat lited of rom Ithaca,

N.Y. (ITH) bound or Newark Airport (EWR) on Feb. 11, 1958, carrying Ruth, the rst

Arican-American ight attendant hired by a U.S. airline. Mohawk Airlines was a New

York-based regional carrier and later merged with Allegheny Airlines, one o the

heritage airlines that became todays US Airways.

Her hiring made national and world news when New York Governor Averell Harriman

announced on Dec. 23, 1957 that Mohawk Airlines had hired the 26-year-old New York City

registered nurse.

Ruth initially applied for a ight attendant position with other carriers but was turned down

based solely on her race. Angered by the injustice, she led a complaint with the New York

State Commission of Discrimination. She toldJetmagazine in a 1997 interview, It irked me

that people were not allowing people of color to apply.

It was around that time that Mohawk Airlines expressed interest in hiring minority ight

attendants. She applied for the position, was hired and began training in late December 1957 but

left the airline six months later when she got married. (Married ight attendants were prohibited

by the industry until the late 1960s.) Ruth returned to the nursing profession and devoted herself

to the civil rights movement of the 1960s and formed a foundation to promote the education of

young minority women. She is retired and lives in the New York City area today.

The ITH-EWR ight took just one hour and eleven minutes but in that short time, a barrier had

fallen. In many ways, our commitment to diversity and inclusion landed its rst achievement fty-

years ago.

When we look back at the history of our airline, we

nd these invaluable moments of pride and it reminds

us of who we are and what weve accomplished. It is

why we commemorate our heritage and the legacy of

each airline that has formed US Airways. We continue

to celebrate and embrace the worldwide diversity of our

workforce, customers and the communities we serve

through our diversity and inclusion programs, said

Samuel Wolo, director of Diversity.

Fifty years after her historic ight, the New York State

Assembly honored Ruth in 2008 by proclamation and

today we salute Ruth Carol Taylor for her lifelong

devotion to civil rights and for being one of US.

Ruth Carol Taylor, above,and Mohawks 1957 route

map.

Celebrating a PioneerRuth Carol Taylor hired by Mohawk

as rst Arican-American fightattendant in U.S.