Pan Am Blackbirds: Airline’s first Black flight attendants to reunite in DC after decades

In 1969, a pioneering group of women became the first Black flight attendants for the Pan American World Airways.

Decades later, many members of the group will travel to D.C. from around the world to share their stories with National Air and Space Museum curators. They call themselves the Pan Am Blackbirds.

Bonnie Jones-Moon dreamt of breaking into the airline industry thanks to early exposure through her father and grandmother. She got her start with Eastern Airlines before joining Pan Am.

“As I went to the door and put my hand on the doorknob, he said, ‘Ms. Jones, welcome to the line.’ And it still gives me chills when he said that, and that’s when I knew it was real,” she said.

Jones-Moon, along with countless other African American men and women, began joining Pan Am a few years after the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

“Just because of the period of time, but also because of our experience, they were so rare for African Americans and women to have these kinds of opportunities, so it was kind of wonderful,” she said.

The process of being selected to become a flight attendant was memorable for Dr. Sheila Nutt. She joined the airline in 1969 and is credited with adopting the group’s moniker.

“You have to be a certain height, a certain weight. You had to have a college education. You had to speak a second language. You couldn’t have any acne. No glasses,” she said.

Nutt said that as a flight attendants abroad, they had a measure of freedom.

“I think what’s important here, Dominique, is the fact that we were men and women of color, of African descent. Wherever we went, we were known as Americans. Nobody cared about our color. They looked at our passport. That gave us a certain … to say, ‘Hey, you’re something.’ Whereas in society, they were telling us that we were nothing,” Nutt said.

The group traveled worldwide, and members were based in different countries. The job was a chance to have a career and see the world.

“I was in Munich, working a flight in Munich, and running into some of my heroes from the ‘68 Olympics. I never imagined in ‘68 that I would be seeing the world in this capacity,” Joyce Horton Page said.

“There are risks, and I can understand that a lot of people don’t feel comfortable getting out of their comfort zone, but you don’t really broaden yourself,” Oren Whyche-Shaw said.

Some of the Pan Am Blackbirds will reunite for the first time in decades. They said they’re hoping their dedication to the airways inspires career choices for others.

“We should consider our part, our place in the global village – pursue it, explore it and be a part of it,” Horton Page said.

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