"Marlon Dewitt Green" (June 6,1929-July 6,2009)

In 1963,Marlon born in Arkansas and a former U.S. Air Force pilot,broke the airline industry color barrier when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Continental Airlines had to comply with the State of Colorado's anti-discrimination laws-there being no conflict with any federal statute--and required that the company hire him He has been described as "the Jackie Robinson" of the airline.
Marlon was born in El Dorado (Union County) to McKinley Green who was a domestic worker,and Lucy Longmyre Green a homemaker.He had four siblings.Despite growing up economically disadvantaged,Marlon was an excellent student and graduated as the valedictorian of of Fairview Elementary.He attended Booker T.Washington High School in El Dorado through the eleventh grade and then converted to Catholicism and received a scholarship to Xavier Preparatory High School in New Orleans Louisiana,where he graduated as co-valedictorian in 1947.He briefly attended Epiphany Apostolic College in Newburgh,New York,with plans to become a priest.At the end of  1947,he was dismissed from that institution (allegedly for sexual activity,a charge he denied ) and joined the U.S. Air Force on February 5,1948,with hopes of becoming an aircraft mechanic.
After basic training at Lackland Airforce Base in Texas,Marlon was stationed in Hawaii on June 5,1948.After being assigned to an al African American unit whose main duty peforming menial work,Marlon exhibited a desire to fly planes.He was one of very flew African Americans accepted into basic pilot training school in San Antonio,Texas,in March 1950.(One of  of his classmates was Virgil "Gus" Grissom,who would became one of the original Mercury Seven astronauts.)
Marlon passed the course and was commissioned as a second lieutenant.Over the course of nine years in the U.S. Air Force,he flew a variety of multi-engine aircraft,including bombers,and mid-air refueling tankers,and amphibious rescue planes,and served at various air bases.
On December 29,1951,he married Eleanor Gallagher,a white instructor of physical education whom he had met in New Orleans.They had six children.They were divorced in 1970.Marlon later remarried three times,having another son with his second wife,Delores.
In June 1957,Continetal Airlines,based in Denver,Colorado invited him to take a flight test,unaware of his race because he had not included a photo of himself with his application.He passed,but five other ex-Air Force applicants,all of whom had far less experience than he had,were hired while Marlon was not.Believing himself  to be the victim of racial discrimination,he filed a complaint with Colorado Anti-Discrimination Commission (CADC).The CADC agreed and ruled that Continental had to admit Marlon to a training class.The airlines refused and took the matter to the Denver District Court.
In 1959,Continental's lawyers argued that,as an interstate carrier,the airline was not subject to a state commission's ruling.On  June 11,the court returned the complaint to the commission for revision and set a court date.Subsequently the complaint was dismissed by the court on
June 26.At this point,Marlon hired a Denver lawyer who appealed the case to the Colorado Supreme Court in 1960;this court sent the case back to the Denver District Court.Marlon's lawyer then petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to hear the case and was granted a hearing.U.S.Attroney
General Robert Kennedy as well as other influential figures and organizations filed "friend of the court" briefs on Marlon's behalf.
In April 1963,the Supreme Court,under Chief Justice Earl Warren,ruled unanimously in Marlon's favor and ordered Contineental to admit him to a training course.After more than a year of working out contracts,terms Marlon started with Continental in January 1965.He flew for almost fourteen years,all of them for Continental,before retiring in 1978.As a result of his breaking the airline "color barrier," he opened the doors for hundreds of other minority pilots,and the Organization of Black Airline Pilots was formed as a result of his victory.
He received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Organization of Black Airline Pilots in 2003 and was inducted into the Arkansas Avivation Historical Society Hall of Fame in 2005.Continental Airlines named a Boeing 737 the "Capt.Marlon Green" in his honor in 2010.
He was also included the permanent "Black Wings" exhibit at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington D.C.
Marlon died in Denver.He donated his body to science.