African-American Women Firefighters

[Note: This information is condensed from material gathered by the staff of Women in the Fire Service, primarily in 1992. It is updated frequently, and some of the statistics have been changed to reflect newer data. Where not otherwise indicated, numbers are from 1992.]

The first woman firefighter we know of was African-American. Held under slavery by a male New York City firefighter, Molly Williams worked on Oceanus Company No. 11 in the 1780's, and was said to be "as good a fire laddie as many of the men."

From that bittersweet beginning, it was to be many years before free African-American women began to create their legacy within the U.S. fire service. As many as 500 Black women now work as career firefighters and officers in the United States, along with an unknown number of counterparts in the volunteer ranks. The history of these pioneers has not been saved in any systematic way, and we hope this brief listing of some of the names that are known will serve as inspiration for the collection of more comprehensive histories.

The earliest Black women career firefighters

In June of 1976, a Black woman named Toni McIntosh was hired by the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Fire Department. She was probably the first African-American woman to become a career firefighter. She was also the only female firefighter on the PFD for more than eleven years.

Carolyn Mitchell in Kansas City, Missouri, hired in January of 1977, was another early African-American female career firefighter. In an interview for an article in Ebony magazine in 1988, she reported some of the obstacles she had faced. "They tried to make it as hard as possible...They'd isolate me, wouldn't talk to me, would make up special rules for me..." With 25 years on the job, Mitchell now holds the rank of captain and receives strong praise from her co-workers on KCFD.

Several other Black women were hired in the same year as Mitchell. Harriett Saunders and Theresa Smith were two of the first three women firefighters in Detroit, graduating from training in late September 1977. Detroit now has more than 20 African-American women firefighters, including District Chief Charlene Graham, who was promoted in 1996.

The District of Columbia Fire Department, which has been one of the nation's leaders in hiring Black women, employs more than fifty as firefighters and an even larger number in EMS. Beatrice Rudder, hired in the first group of women in 1977, later became a sergeant, the first woman to be promoted in the DCFD. She currently holds the rank of Deputy Chief, and heads the department's training division.

Firefighter Liz Summers was one of seven Black women who joined the Atlanta Fire Bureau in 1978; she "completed her training at the very top of her class." Also in 1978, Freda Bailey-Murray was hired by the Rockford, Illinois, Fire Department, along with four other women. Bailey-Murray later became the first woman of color to serve as President of the Board of Trustees of Women in the Fire Service.

In June of 1979, the city of Greenville, Mississippi hired the first Black woman firefighter in the state, Laverne Sing. The department now has six women, all Black, on the 88-person force. Sing and another woman, both lieutenants at the time, were promoted to captain in the fall of 1990. Also in the summer of 1979, the first African-American woman firefighter, Wanda Akbar (now Wanda Butler), was hired in Jacksonville, Florida. Genois Wilson, a 911 dispatcher for the City of Fort Wayne, Indiana, became the city's first female firefighter after completing fire training in 1979. Wilson retired in 1995 after 20 years with the city, and now works as a probation officer counseling juveniles.

In 1980, Christine Richie-Myers was one of first two women hired by the Oakland, California, Fire Department. She was promoted to Inspector in 1983, and later became a lieutenant. The Oakland Fire Department currently employs more than 15 Black women.

The Seattle Fire Department had an aggressive women's hiring program for several years beginning in the late 1970's, but it was not until 1980 that Seattle hired its first African-American woman firefighter, Janet Beal. The second Black woman, Michele Williams, was hired in 1984. Beal was promoted to lieutenant in 1996, the first African-American woman to hold rank on the Seattle Fire Department.

The group of the New York City Fire Department's first women firefighters in 1982 included a number of Black women, most of whom who are still on the job twenty years later. Several have received unit citations for their work in the field, and one, Katrina Cannon, served as president of the New York women's organization, United Women Firefighters.

Cassandra S. Sidberry was hired by the Wilmington, North Carolina, Fire Deparatment in July of 1984, the first African-American woman on the department. She was promoted to Driver/Operator in 1989, and became the WFD's first female lieutenant in 1999. She was promoted to captain -- again, the department's first woman -- in February of 2000.

Also in 1982, Catherine Washington was hired by the St. Petersburg, Florida, Fire Department. She was named Firefighter of the Year in 1999. She is also a 25-year veteran of the U.S. Army Reserves, holding the rank of Master Sergeant.

The Toledo Fire Department has employed Black women firefighters since its first women were hired in 1983. Out of 30 women now on the job, at least ten are Black. Firefighters Jennifer Wilson and Geraldine McCalland, along with Lieutenant Greg Fizer and Charles E. Anderson, in 1989 formed the first all-Black crew in Toledo Fire Department history.

Notable Black women firefighters in recent years

On July 14th, 1988, Chicago firefighter Phyllis Earl responded to a fire with her ladder company. She got off the truck to get an SCBA from a side compartment; at the same time, a responding engine drove past. Just as the engine passed the truck, an axle bolt on the engine apparently broke. The engine fishtailed and slid sideways, pinning Earl between the two vehicles. The driver of the engine was unaware that anything was wrong, and continued driving, rolling Earl sideways as the engine proceeded. (The driver was later treated for shock at a local hospital.)

Earl suffered numerous crushing injuries. She went into cardiac arrest at one point and had to be resuscitated. Her injuries resulted in the loss of her spleen, a kidney, and one lung; she later received a transplanted kidney donated by her sister. Co-worker Marilyn Schriner said at the time, "I felt that if anyone could pull through such an accident, Phyllis could... She is a remarkable, determined woman." Her extensive injuries forced Earl to retire from firefighting.

A Black woman named Jackie Jenkins is a firefighter/paramedic for the Kennedy Space Center Fire Department. Jenkins started out on the Cocoa Fire Department in her home town in about 1987; she later went to the Space Center and became the first Black woman captain in the state -- and probably in the country -- in less than a year. She was the first woman in Florida to win the "Outstanding Young Firefighter of the Year" award from the Florida Jaycees.

Cecelia O. Salters (now Cecelia Owens-Cox) was among the first group of women hired by New York City, and in 1984 was the first woman assigned to a FDNY truck company, Ladder Co. 9 in downtown Manhattan. (It is rare for women to be assigned to truck companies in the FDNY on a permanent basis.) Cecelia married co-worker André Cox in 1990, and the couple became the first FDNY firefighters from the same firehouse to marry.

African-American women fire officers

Jacqueline Jones is the only woman among the 650 men of the Newark, New Jersey, Fire Department. Hired in 1982, Jones was promoted to captain in 1989, one of the earliest Black women to reach that rank. At her promotion ceremony, the mayor of Newark said, "It is a privilege to recognize our first female fire captain... She has displayed academic excellence and a tremendous commitment to the community by putting her life on the line to save others."

The first woman to hold the rank of division chief on the Detroit Fire Department was an African-American woman, Charlene Graham. Graham is a 20-year veteran of the department and heads its Division of Research and Development. Several other Black women have been promoted to chief-level positions in recent years, including Debra Pryor, Assistant Chief of the Berkeley, California, Fire Department; Pat Dyas, Battalion Chief in Shreveport, Louisiana; Battalion Chief Rosemary Cloud in Atlanta (later to become chief of the East Point Fire Department); and Assistant Chief (Lt. Col.) Cynthia Brooks of the Louisville, Kentucky, Fire Department.

Helping Black women enter the fire service

The International Association of Black Professional Fire Fighters has national, regional, and chapter "Black Women in the Fire Service" committees to support women who are IABPFF members in addressing their issues within the organization. The committees' duties include increasing the number of women applicants to fire departments, investigating local problems women encounter on the job and enlisting community support for the women, and determining the effect that training, or lack of training, has on women. The president of the national committee is Captain Claudia Stevenson of the St. Louis Fire Department.

Black women in volunteer firefighting

Information on volunteer firefighters is much sketchier and more difficult to retrieve than that from the career sector. By one estimate, there may be as many as 2,000 Black female volunteer and paid-on-call firefighters in the U.S. According to the IABPFF, a number of all-Black volunteer fire departments have been identified but "no comprehensive study has been made of the African-American contribution to the volunteer fire service." Apparently there were all-Black volunteer fire companies in Mississippi and South Carolina during the Reconstruction era. The historic self-governing Black town of Eatonville, Florida, made famous as the birthplace of the writer Zora Neale Hurston and the setting for two of her books, has had an all-Black fire department for decades, as well as one of the first Black fire chiefs in the country. Orlando firefighter Deborah Crawley began as a volunteer on Eatonville before entering the career service.

The Belvedere, Delaware, Fire Department is another example of an all-Black volunteer force that includes several women. Similarly, the Dobbins Heights Volunteer Fire Department in Hamlet, North Carolina, has four women firefighters, including one captain; the only Black women firefighters in Richmond County. Some Black colleges, such as Central State University in Ohio, have volunteer fire departments that have included women for many years. There are certainly many more African-American women who serve as volunteer firefighters, whose numbers are difficult to count and whose names remain unknown except to those who work with them.

The future

The number of African-American women firefighters grows every year. With the increased visibility of those currently on the job, awareness will continue to grow among young Black women that firefighting and rescue work are fields that offer them great opportunities and rewards.

[This article could not have been written without the generous assistance of many people. Thanks to Mr. Romeo Spaulding, Brenda Brooks, Freda Bailey-Murray, Crystal Golden, Sheila Hopper, Christine Richie-Myers, Chief Ernest Cannon, Marilyn Schriner, Pauline Kinnebrew, Firefighter Walz, and the Greenville Fire Department, for sharing the information that made this chronology possible. Numerous articles from Smoke (the former IABPFF journal), the article on women firefighters from the March 1988 issue of Ebony, and Robert Hemenway's biography of Zora Neale Hurston were also used as resources.]