Kansas City’s First Black Female Firefighter Dies at 73

Carolyn Mitchell, first black female firefighter for Kansas City Missouri

Robert A. Cronkleton
The Kansas City Star
(TNS)

Carolyn Mitchell, Kansas City’s first Black female firefighter and “trailblazer who opened doors for women” in the male-dominated profession, has died, the Kansas City Fire Department announced on social media Tuesday. She was 73 years old.

Mitchell and Ann Wedo were among the first female firefighters to begin with the Kansas City Fire Department’s Academy in 1977, Division Chief Christa Harris, the department’s diversity and equity officer, said in a letter to women in the department.

“Carolyn showed extraordinary resilience and determination, creating a legacy that makes KCFD a place where women can thrive,” Harris said.

Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas was saddened to learn of Mitchell’s death. He called her a true pioneer who transformed the Kansas City Fire Department.

“She was more than a firefighter — she broke down significant barriers for women of color in public service as the first Black female captain at KCFD at one of the first female firefighters in our community,” Lucas said. “Kansas City celebrates Carolyn’s life of service, courage, and achievement. Her legacy continues to inspire firefighters and public servants in our community for generations to come.”

During her career, Mitchell rose through the ranks. She earned a promotion to fire apparatus operator — a firefighter who drives and operates a fire truck — and made history again by becoming the department’s first Black female captain.

According to her obituary, she became an instructor at the fire apartment’s training academy, where she trained other firefighters in handling and operating equipment. She also served on the department’s negotiations committee, human relations committee, recruitment task force team, sexual harassment committee and unity and diversity strategy team.

“Carolyn and Ann Wedo paved the way for women in the KCFD, carving a path in a male-dominated profession,” Harris said. “As we continue to advocate for improvements like gender-neutral bathrooms, private bunk rooms, and women’s cut bunker gear, we honor the challenges and sacrifices they endured.”

James Garrett, a former deputy chief with the Kansas City Fire Department, said a big part of her legacy is being the first Black woman to make captain.

Mitchell was a good person, he said, and she was always a mentor to women and minorities who joined the fire department.

“Being a woman who had rank and having to suffer the harassment and the discrimination she had to suffer, she was real instrumental in taking different women and women of color up under her wings and kind of showing them how to maneuver in a very racist environment,” Garrett said.

She showed women and Black firefighters how to conduct themselves and what they needed to do to advance in their careers, he said.

Mitchell was key in helping Women and minorities navigate a predominately white male-dominated culture, one that was not their own, Garrett said.

A 2020 investigation by The Star found that Black and women firefighters face discrimination and harassment in the Kansas City Fire Department, leaving them ostracized, put in danger, shut out of the most desirable posts and passed over for promotions.

Seeing women and minorities advance was “just a Carolyn Mitchell thing,” Garrett said.

“It was just in her heart to really see people excel and really see people, especially women, be in places that they have heretofore not been in and heretofore have not been respected in,” he said.

Battalion Chief Michael Hopkins, a spokesman for the fire department, added: “While Capt. Mitchell was a trailblazer on KCFD, that onus is now us to continue her efforts and ensure that while she may have been the first, she will not be the last. That through our DEI (diversity, equity, inclusion) and recruiting efforts we ensure that the path she created is walked by many for generations to come.”

While there is still work to be done, programs like Catching Fury and Camp Fury, designed to inspire teenage girls to a career as first responders, are only possible because of those women who came before, like Mitchell, Hopkins said.

Services for Mitchell will be held Wednesday beginning with visitation at 10 a.m. at Mount Moriah, Newcomer & Freeman Memorial Home, 1050 Holmes Road. Services will follow at 11 a.m.

©2024 The Kansas City Star. Visit kansascity.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

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