In the Constituent Spotlight: Ms. Carol Taylor!

Eric Adams

July 28, 2009

Carol Taylor

Born on December 27, 1931 into a family of black, white, and cherokee heritage, Ms. Ruth Carol Taylor was the first black flight attendant of either gender on a U.S. airline.  Breaking the color barrier, Ms. Taylor was one of about 800 black females interviewed by Mohawk Airlines. On February 11, 1958 she made her initial flight.  This landmark was reported in The New York Times, the New York Herald Tribune, Time Magazine, and on the cover of Jet.  Ms. Taylor was also heavily involved in covering the 1963 March on Washington for Flamingo, a British, African-Caribbean magazine, and she became a community activist on consumer affairs and women’s rights.  In 1977, she moved to Brooklyn to provide her children with greater opportunity.  In New York, she attended many demonstrations to end police brutality and other injustices, once even shaving her head to emphasize her protest.  It was not until 2008, fifty years after she integrated the airline industry, that all of Ms. Taylor’s accomplishments were memorialized by the New York State Assembly.
 
Ms. Taylor is the eldest of two children.  She was married to Rex Norman Legall and is the mother of Cindy and Laurence.  Ms. Taylor’s husband passed away in 2008, but she continues her dedication and hard work, having already stamped her name in the history books.

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TEAM ADAMS WILL BE RECOGNIZING CONSTITUENTS WHO CONTRIBUTE TO OUR DISTRICT SEVERAL TIMES A MONTH.  DO YOU KNOW ANYONE WHO VOLUNTEERS, GIVES TO CHARITY, RUNS A SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS, OR OTHERWISE GIVES BACK?

TO NOMINATE A FRIEND OR A NEIGHBOR, PLEASE EMAIL THEIR NAME, ACCOMPLISHMENT AND EMAIL ADDRESS TO HEROTEAMADAMS@GMAIL.COM.

PAST CONSTITUENTS IN THE SPOTLIGHT:
Keston Boyce, Student, Medgar Evers College
Myungsuk Lee, President/Owner: Korean-American Times
Dr. Laverne Nimmons, Principal, P.S. 335
Catherine Varous & Nadia Wallace, Prospect Park Playground Committee
Carol Taylor, 'Blacktivist'/Pioneer

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