Marlon Dewitt Green (June 6, 1929 – July 6, 2009) was an

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American ...

pilot whose landmark

United States Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...

decision in 1963 helped dismantle

racial discrimination Racial discrimination is any discrimination against any individual on the basis of their skin color, race or ethnic origin.Individuals can discriminate by refusing to do business with, socialize with, or share resources with people of a certain g ...

in the

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

passenger airline industry. The decision led to

David E. Harris David Ellsworth Harris (born December 22, 1934) is the first African American commercial airline pilot and first to achieve the rank of Pilot Captain for a major U.S. commercial airline. Early life, education, personal life Harris was born o ...

's hiring as the first African-American pilot for a major airline the following year. Green was subsequently hired by

Continental Airlines Continental Airlines, simply known as Continental, was a major United States airline founded in 1934 and eventually headquartered in Houston, Texas. It had ownership interests and brand partnerships with several carriers. Continental started o ...

, for whom he flew from 1965 to 1978.

Biography

Marlon Green is born in

El Dorado El Dorado (, ; Spanish for "the golden"), originally ''El Hombre Dorado'' ("The Golden Man") or ''El Rey Dorado'' ("The Golden King"), was the term used by the Spanish in the 16th century to describe a mythical tribal chief (''zipa'') or king o ...

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the Osage ...

. His father, Mckinley Green, was born in 1900, and married Green's mother, Lucy, on April 10, 1921. In 1936 or 1937, the family moved to

Lansing Lansing () is the capital of the U.S. state of Michigan. It is mostly in Ingham County, although portions of the city extend west into Eaton County and north into Clinton County. The 2020 census placed the city's population at 112,644, makin ...

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

, where he found work at the Drop Forge Company. He later joined the household staff of dentist J. Shelton Rushing as what his son called the

major domo A majordomo is a person who speaks, makes arrangements, or takes charge for another. Typically, this is the highest (''major'') person of a household (''domūs'' or ''domicile'') staff, a head servant who acts on behalf of the owner of a large ...

.Whitlock Green converted to

Catholicism The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

in the 11th grade and attended

Xavier University Preparatory School Xavier University Preparatory School was a private, Catholic high school in New Orleans, Louisiana. The Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament founded, owned and operated the school, having opened it in 1915 as what would eventually become Xavier Unive ...

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...

before studying to become a priest with the Josephites at

Epiphany Apostolic College Epiphany Apostolic College, formerly known as the Josephite Collegiate Seminary, was a Catholic Church, Catholic minor seminary founded in Baltimore, Baltimore, Maryland in 1889 by John R. Slattery for the Mill Hill Missionaries, a United Kingdom, ...

. He was eventually dismissed. Marlon Green joined the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal ...

, where his last posting was flying the SA-16 Albatross with the 36th Air Rescue Squadron at Johnson Air Base in

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

, Japan. While on leave in 1957, he applied for a pilot position with

, and was invited to be interviewed after having left blank the racial-identity question on the application. He also omitted pasting into the small square block provided in the upper right hand corner of the first page of the application, a picture of himself, Five other white applicants, less qualified, were hired. Per varying sources, he either was rejected then, or was hired as what would have been the nation's first African-American pilot for a major commercial airline, but was rejected after reporting for orientation. On April 22, 1963, following oral arguments on March 28, 1963, the

ruled in "Colorado Anti-Discrimination Commission v. Continental Airlines, Inc. 372 U.S. 714 no. 146" that Green had been unlawfully discriminated against. In 1964,

American Airlines American Airlines is a major airlines of the United States, major US-based airline headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, within the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. It is the Largest airlines in the world, largest airline in the world when measured ...

hired

as the first African-American pilot for major US passenger airline. Following his Supreme Court victory, Green flew for Continental from 1965 to 1978, initially piloting

Vickers Viscount The Vickers Viscount is a British medium-range turboprop airliner first flown in 1948 by Vickers-Armstrongs. A design requirement from the Brabazon Committee, it entered service in 1953 and was the first turboprop-powered airliner. The Visc ...

s out of Denver. He became a captain in 1966. Green died aged 80 in

Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...

Personal life

He was divorced at the time of his death and was survived by his six children, one of whom is the historian Monica Green.

Legacy

On February 16,