Eugene Bullard- Black Expatriate in Jazz Age Paris

Eugene Bullard was born in Columbus, Georgia, the son of a former slave, on October 9, 1895. By the time he was twelve years old he had run away from the plantation his family sharecropped, stowing away on a ship bound for Europe. Historian Craig Lloyd, professor emeritus at Columbus State University does a masterful job of explaining the era and circumstances in which Bullard was born and takes the reader along for his journey. Arriving first in England, the young boy is amazed to discover the color of his skin does not define his place in the world. He became a minstrel show performer, and much to his delight Eugene learns that in Europe, unlike the South, when the music ends he is welcome to live where and how he chooses.

So begins Craig Lloyds brilliant biography of one of histories most enigmatic figures. While many early aviation enthusiasts might be able to recall that the Lafayette Escadrille squadron of American pilots who flew for France included a young African American, few would be able to tell the full tale in as vivid a detail. By his late teens Eugene Bullard has formed ties with a community of expatriate African Americans who have discovered a place with little of the prejudice found at home. He is befriended by a well known boxer called the Dixie Kid, another expat, and taught to box. Winning many of his bouts he relocates to Paris and is a well known figure when the First World War erupts in 1914.

By then Bullard has grown into as a man determined to live on his own terms. He is fluent in a couple of languages, and while he seldom starts he never backs away from one either if insulted. Bullard immediately joins the Foreign Legion and after training is thrown into the caldron of trench warfare. A machine gunner, he is wounded twice at Verdun. On convalescent leave a French officer recommends him for aviation training. Bullard passes through the difficult course and makes fast friends with several American pilots, including future ace Ted Parsons. But Eugene Bullards flying career however is shortlived. He flies only twenty combat missions for his adopted homeland before encountering the same Jim Crow ear racism he thought he had left behind for good. Dr. Edmund Gros, one of the key organizers of the Lafayette Flying Corps has been given the task of vetting French serving American pilots as they are merged into the US Air Service. Lloyd's account tells of Dr. Gros' behind the scenes blocking of Bullard's transfer, and how the 'patriotic' American doctor gave false testimony against Bullard to French officials that described the 22 year old pilot as a person of poor character. Gros letters recommended he be returned to the trenches and Bullard never flew again. Gros' prejudice against a young man he met only a handful of times is explained by Professor Lloyd as he describes newly arrived American officers aghast to find white French women freely dancing and drinking with men of color.

When the Lafayette Flying Corps reunion groups snubbed him for several years after the war, his flying became point of pride for Bullard. Eugene Bullard's life postwar was even more fascinating. He married, had children and ran a series of night clubs in Paris that introduced jazz to post war Paris. When American musicians traveled to France, Eugene Bullard was someone they turned to for both his language fluency and his understanding of French society. When Germany invaded in 1940 the 45 year old Bullard rushed to rejoin his old unit and after being wounded again, made a harrowing escape to America, settling down in New York.

In his latter years Eugene Bullard became involved in the early civil rights movement and finally enjoyed some recognition for his days in early aviation. More than just a footnote in aviation history, Eugene Bullard's story is about an individuals struggle for respect and freedom. Craig Lloyd's compelling biography of this true individual and the time he lived in, reminds the reader that sometimes that struggle is life itself.