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In the spirit of Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan, Mary Jackson and NOW Stephanie Johnson, little black girls everywhere can imagine themselves as mathematicians, scientists, physicists and yes, even pilots.

Stephanie Johnson made history as Delta’s first Black female captain.

No stranger to being the first, Johnson made history in 1997 when she became the first Black female pilot for Northwest Airlines. When asked what it means to be a history maker, she said the following to the Delta News Hub,

“I feel a great sense of responsibility to be a positive role model. 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.”

12…IN THE WHOLE COUNTRY?!

via GIPHY

From the moment she convinced her high school physics teacher to take her up on his personal airplane, she was hooked. She eventually learned to fly at Kent State University and became a flight instructor, then a commuter carrier pilot, until eventually landing at Northwest Airlines. And the rest, is Black History.

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