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Most histories about the 
  Civil Rights Movement focus 
on marches and sit ins.

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But there is a crucial 
  racial justice battleground 
   often overlooked,

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and it unfolded in the sky.

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The South, it was open, clear.

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That white people 
  had this advantage,

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Black people had no advantage.

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I'm in New York.

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It's not as vivid.

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And then when the airline 
  situation occurred, it just 
opened my eyes totally.

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Yes, it exists here.

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It exists.

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The struggle for equal 
   opportunity in the airline 
industry was turbulent.

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But, one woman's challenge 
  opened the doors for change.

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The one thing that 
has to be clear,

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discrimination is 
a very difficult

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thing to prove.

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When Pat Banks graduated 
  from Grace Downs Air 
 Career School in 1956,

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she expected to be 
  hired as a flight attendant.

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Despite her impeccable 
credentials, Pat did not 
receive a single offer.

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I was determined

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that somebody of African 
 American heritage was 
 going to get this job.

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Pat sued Capital Airlines for 
 their racially discriminatory 
   hiring practices.

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Finally, in 1960,

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after nearly four years, 
   she won her case.

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I wouldn't do anything 
that may have led to a mistake.

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I had to be this 
  perfect human being.

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And the only way I could 
do that was to do my job

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and prove that this job could 
be done and accomplished

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by an African American woman.

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Pat opened the doors.

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But the doors 
  weren't kicked open;

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they were cracked.

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The first Black flight attendant 
   for Delta was hired in '66

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and then I was hired in 1971.

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Nearly a decade 
after Pat won her case.

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By the start of the 1970s,

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there were about 1,000 
  Black women employed

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across all of the airlines.

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At the time, this 
 accounted for only 3%

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of the total number of flight 
   attendants in the country.

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When I went in to National 
  Airlines for the interview,

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I never considered my 
skin tone as a problem.

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Just being able to 
 communicate with individuals,

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customer service, that's what 
  I thought it was all about.

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I didn't think of color at all.

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Once I completed the training,

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I realized that the 
   company, National 
   Airlines, did not want me.

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When I would see 
   certain captains,

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I knew scheduling was 
going to pull me off the flight

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because they refused 
to fly with me.

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Passengers would not 
   make eye contact.

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If you asked if they wanted 
something to drink, they 
 would not talk to you.

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But then when the white 
  stewardess came along, they 
 would beckon for them to come.

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So you understood that.

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This is when you talk 
   to the other stewardesses,

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and we started comparing notes.

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In 1973, Undra Mays joined 
   the union that represented 
   flight attendants.

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If someone of color 
 had a problem,

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I would be the one there.

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I would be the one there 
  to quote policy and 
procedure to the company

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and tell them what we will 
   and will not accept or do.

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Mays worked as a 
 flight attendant for 50 years.

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Casey Grant worked for 
  Delta Airlines for 35 years.

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I never became 
 discouraged by racism.

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I knew that I could 
 do the job better than

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half of the girls I was flying 
  with because I tried harder.

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I knew the world 
was not all bad.

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I never became discouraged 
  because no one was going to 
 take this opportunity from me.

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Pat Banks was inducted 
into the Black Aviation 
 Hall of Fame in 2010.

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I think that most of 
the heroes in aviation,

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the common thread for 
 all those people that 
 have opened the doors,

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was being determined and 
 never taking no for an answer.

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When you want something, 
   you fight for it.