Key Facts
- Date of Birth: January 27, 1929
- Place of Birth: El Dorado, Arkansas
- Date of Death: July 6, 2009
- Family: Wife and Children
Notable Achievements
- First African American to be hired as a pilot by a major U.S. airline (Continental Airlines)
- Key figure in the fight against racial discrimination in the airline industry
- Instrumental in the landmark legal case Green v. United Airlines
Bio
Marlon D. Green was born in 1929 in El Dorado, Arkansas. His connection to aviation was clear from the start. His brother says that he loved to fly paper airplanes around as a child and even designed a cardboard instrument panel. Green decided to join the military in 1948, just months before President Truman had it desegregated. However, since this change was only at the federal level, many states that had discriminatory policies in place were still able to enforce them. Green was often the victim of such laws. He and his wife (who was white) were not allowed to live together where he was stationed because Louisiana had laws restricting interracial marriage and living arrangements.
Green was transferred to Ohio by the Air Force in 1950, where he became one of the few Black men accepted into pilot training school at the time. He gained almost 3,000 flight hours on many types of aircraft, such as the B-26, before he was honorably discharged in 1957.
Still every bit as passionate about aviation, Green applied to several commercial aviation companies after 18 of them publicly pledged to use non-discriminatory hiring practices, but had little success. Only after leaving the box that stated his race blank was he invited for an interview with Continental Airlines. He made it to the final round with six other applicants but was not hired. Green was surprised and skeptical as the four that were selected were vastly less experienced, and felt the airline had refused to hire him because of his race.
Since Continental’s headquarters were located in a state which had laws against racial discrimination in hiring, he filed a complaint there. They sided with him, determining that the only reason he was not hired was because of his race, and ordered Continental to hire him. They refused, and the case was brought before the Supreme Court. In 1963, the landmark decision was made as the Supreme Court decided in Green’s favor and ruled that Continental had to hire him. He flew with Continental for 14 years, and eventually retired in 1978. Green passed away in 2009, but his impact on diversity in aviation is still being seen today.