Marlon Green is born in
El Dorado, Arkansas. 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, Michigan, 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. Green converted to
Catholicism in the 11th grade and attended
Xavier University Preparatory School in
New Orleans before studying to become a priest with the
Josephites at
Epiphany Apostolic College. He was eventually dismissed. Marlon Green joined the
United States Air Force, where his last posting was flying the
SA-16 Albatross with the
36th Air Rescue Squadron at
Johnson Air Base in
Tokyo, Japan. While on leave in 1957, he applied for a pilot position with
Continental Airlines, and was invited to be interviewed after having left blank the racial-identity question on the application. On April 22, 1963, following oral arguments on March 28, 1963, the
United States Supreme Court 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 hired
David E. Harris 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 Viscounts out of Denver. He became a captain in 1966. Green died aged 80 in
Denver,
Colorado. == Personal life ==