In mathematics, delta, symbolized by a triangle, means a change in value. In aeronautics, Delta Airlines, with its triangle logo, has become a symbol for social change.
Upon landing in Las Vegas from Detroit on Feb. 26, Atlanta-based First Officer Dawn Cook and Detroit-based Captain Stephanie Johnson made history, becoming the first African-American women to make up a cock-pit crew on a Delta mainline flight (a flight that utilizes an airline’s main operating unit rather than regional ones).
It’s the second milestone for Johnson, who was Northwest Airline’s first African-American female pilot and Delta’s first African-American female captain.
“There were no pilots in my life growing up, and I think I’m the first person in my family to graduate from college,” Johnson said in a Q&A on Delta’s website in February. “But for as long as I can remember, I have been fascinated with airplanes and would think, ‘What a great thing it would be to know how to fly.’”
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But flying isn’t just something Johnson does for her own enjoyment. Rather, the historic voyage with Cook is part of her long term goals to get more women to be pilots.
“I feel a great sense of responsibility to be a positive role model,” she said. “There are so few women in this profession and too many women who still don’t think of it as a career option. When I was hired by Northwest Airlines, there were 12 African-American women airline pilots in the country at the major airlines, and I knew all of their names.”
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Now Stephanie Johnson and Dawn Cook are two names the country will know.
Cook reached out to Johnson when she learned the captain would be flying out of Detroit and facilitated the flight.
It’s a lesson for all collective action, especially ones with progressive ends: don’t sit back and wait – go out and make it happen. The results could be historic.