Eugene Jacques Bullard

Eugene Jacques Bullard was born Eugene James Bullard on October 9, 1895, in Columbus, Georgia, the seventh of ten children born to William Octave Bullard and Josephine Thomas. His father, who went by the nickname Big Ox, was a former slave from the French island of Martinique who had found his way to Georgia after emancipation. His mother was a full-blooded Creek Indian woman whose tribal name was Yokalee. The unusual mixture of French Creole, African, and Native American heritage would shape Eugene's identity and worldview in ways that would prove both advantageous and challenging throughout his extraordinary life.

The Bullard household was marked by poverty and the constant threat of racial violence that characterized the Jim Crow South. When Eugene was just eight years old, he witnessed an event that would haunt him for the rest of his life and ultimately drive him to leave America. His father had gotten into a disagreement with a white supervisor at work over wages, and word spread quickly through the white community that a black man had dared to stand up to a white boss. That night, a lynch mob surrounded the Bullard family home, baying for William's blood. The family huddled inside their small three-room house while angry voices outside debated whether to burn the house down with the family inside or simply drag William out and hang him from the nearest tree.

By some miracle, cooler heads prevailed that night, but William Bullard was forced to flee into the woods and remain in hiding for weeks until the immediate danger passed. Eugene never forgot the terror of that night, the sound of the mob outside their door, and the way his powerful father had been reduced to a hunted animal. Years later, he would write that this incident convinced him that America would never be a place where he could live with dignity as a black man. His father had told him stories about France, a magical place across the ocean where, according to William's tales gleaned from other Martinique immigrants, white people treated colored people as human beings rather than as property or nuisances to be controlled.

Young Eugene's first attempt to escape the suffocating racism of Georgia came when he was just ten years old. He ran away from home but was caught and returned by local authorities, earning him a severe beating from his father who feared that Eugene's wandering might attract the wrong kind of attention from white authorities. But the boy's determination to reach France only grew stronger with each passing year. In 1906, when Eugene was eleven years old and shortly after his mother died of tuberculosis, he made his final break from home, this time successfully disappearing into the countryside of rural Georgia.

What followed was an odyssey that sounds more like fiction than historical fact. Eugene fell in with a clan of English Romani travelers known as the Stanley family, who were touring the American South with their horses and carnival acts. The Stanleys took in the young runaway and taught him the art of horsemanship, a skill that would serve him well in the years to come. For three years, Eugene traveled with the Stanleys throughout Georgia, learning to care for horses and even working as a jockey in local races. The Stanleys treated him as family, and through them, Eugene got his first real taste of what life might be like without the constant weight of American racial prejudice.

However, the Stanleys were not planning to return to England anytime soon, and Eugene's dream of reaching France burned too brightly to be extinguished by the comfortable life he had found with the traveling show. In 1909, he left the Stanleys and made his way to Dawson, Georgia, where he found work with the Turner family as a stable boy. The Turners, a wealthy white family, were among the few people in Georgia who treated Eugene with something approaching respect, even allowing him to ride as their jockey in races at the Terrell County Fair. Despite this relatively good treatment, Eugene remained determined to escape the American South entirely.

In 1912, at the age of seventeen, Eugene finally achieved his goal of leaving America. He had made his way to Norfolk, Virginia, where he managed to stow away aboard the German merchant ship Marta Russ, bound for Aberdeen, Scotland. The crossing was harrowing, with Eugene hiding in the ship's cargo hold for days, surviving on scraps of food he had managed to smuggle aboard and water he stole from the ship's supplies. When the ship reached Aberdeen, Eugene was discovered by the crew, but rather than being sent back to America, he was simply put ashore in Scotland with nothing but the clothes on his back.

For Eugene, setting foot on European soil was like breathing free air for the first time in his life. In Scotland and later in England, he discovered a world where his skin color, while still occasionally remarked upon, did not automatically make him a target for violence or exclusion. He found work in London as a performer with Belle Davis's Freedman Pickaninnies, an African American entertainment troupe that specialized in vaudeville and minstrel shows. While modern sensibilities might cringe at the nature of these performances, for Eugene they represented freedom and dignity compared to the life he had left behind in Georgia.

Eugene also discovered that he had a natural talent for boxing, and by 1913 he was fighting professionally as a bantamweight and later as a lightweight. His quick reflexes and fierce determination made him a formidable opponent in the ring, and he eventually compiled a record of forty-two professional fights. Boxing not only provided him with income but also gave him confidence and a sense of personal power that had been denied to him in the American South. Through boxing, he met other African American expatriates who had fled to Europe to escape American racism, creating a small but vibrant community of black Americans who had found new lives across the Atlantic.

In November 1913, Eugene traveled to Paris for a boxing match, and it was there that he finally found the place he had been searching for his entire life. Paris in the early twentieth century was a cosmopolitan city where artists, writers, and intellectuals from around the world gathered to create and exchange ideas. For a young black American, it was a revelation to walk the streets of Paris and be treated simply as another human being rather than as a representative of an inferior race. Eugene decided immediately that Paris would be his new home, and he set about learning French with the same determination that had carried him across an ocean.

When World War I erupted in August 1914, Eugene faced a choice that would define the rest of his life. He could have remained safely in Paris as a civilian, continuing his boxing career and enjoying the freedom he had found in France. Instead, he chose to enlist in the French Foreign Legion, the only branch of the French military that accepted foreign volunteers. His decision was driven by a deep sense of gratitude to France for giving him the opportunity to live as a free man, and by a desire to prove himself worthy of the country that had welcomed him.

Eugene was assigned to the 170th Infantry Regiment of the Moroccan Division, where he served as a machine gunner. The Foreign Legion was known for attracting men with complicated pasts who were seeking redemption or a new start, and Eugene fit right in with this collection of adventurers, criminals, and idealists. His regiment saw action in some of the bloodiest battles of the war, including the Second Battle of Champagne and the horrific meat grinder that was the Battle of Verdun.

At Verdun, Eugene experienced combat that was beyond anything he could have imagined. The battle raged for ten months, from February to December 1916, and became a symbol of the senseless slaughter that characterized World War I. Eugene's company suffered eighty percent casualties during their time in the trenches, with men being killed or maimed by artillery, poison gas, rifle fire, and the countless other horrors of modern warfare. Despite the carnage around him, Eugene distinguished himself through his courage and coolness under fire, earning the respect of his fellow soldiers and his officers.

In June 1916, Eugene was severely wounded by German shrapnel at Verdun, suffering injuries to his thigh that army doctors initially believed would leave him permanently disabled. For his bravery in action, he was awarded the Croix de Guerre, one of France's highest military honors, and several other decorations. As he lay recovering in a military hospital in Lyon, Eugene faced the possibility that his fighting days were over and that he would spend the rest of the war as an invalid.

It was during his convalescence that Eugene made a bet that would change his life and earn him a place in history. While drinking with fellow American volunteers at a café in Paris, a white soldier from Mississippi named Jeff Dickson asked Eugene what he would do if his wounds left him unfit for infantry service. Eugene's answer shocked everyone at the table: he said he would join the French Air Service and become a pilot. When Dickson pointed out that there were no black pilots anywhere in the world, Eugene replied that someone had to be the first, and he intended to be that person. The conversation quickly escalated into a two-thousand-dollar wager, with Eugene betting that he could become a military pilot despite his race.

True to his word, Eugene applied for flight training and, to everyone's surprise, was accepted. The French military, desperate for pilots and impressed by Eugene's combat record, was willing to overlook his race in a way that the American military never would be. In November 1916, Eugene entered flight training at Tours, where he learned to fly on the primitive aircraft of the era. Flying in World War I was an incredibly dangerous occupation, with pilots having a life expectancy measured in weeks rather than months. The aircraft were flimsy, unreliable, and prone to catching fire, and pilots flew without parachutes, radios, or any of the safety equipment that would become standard in later years.

Eugene earned his pilot's wings in May 1917, becoming the first African American to qualify as a military pilot. He was initially assigned to Escadrille Spa 93, a squadron equipped with Nieuport and SPAD fighters that bore a flying stork as their insignia. Later, he was transferred to Escadrille Spa 85, which had a bull as its symbol. Eugene flew with the motto "Tout le Sang qui coule est rouge" painted on the fuselage of his aircraft, which translates to "All Blood that Flows is Red." This phrase perfectly captured his philosophy that courage and patriotism knew no racial boundaries.

Perhaps the most endearing and bizarre aspect of Eugene's flying career was his constant companion on combat missions: a pet Capuchin monkey named Jimmy. Eugene had acquired Jimmy in Paris and had grown so attached to the little creature that he refused to fly without him. On every combat mission, Jimmy would be tucked inside Eugene's flying coat, serving as both mascot and good luck charm. Fellow pilots initially thought Eugene was crazy for bringing a monkey on dangerous combat flights, but Jimmy became something of a squadron mascot, and Eugene's superstitious nature convinced him that the monkey was keeping him alive.

Eugene flew approximately twenty combat missions during his brief but distinguished flying career, participating in dogfights with German pilots and strafing enemy positions. He was officially credited with shooting down one German aircraft, though some sources suggest he may have achieved two victories. His fellow pilots praised his skill and courage, noting that he never hesitated to engage enemy aircraft regardless of the odds. For a man who had grown up in the American South where he was considered inferior by law and custom, the respect he earned from his fellow pilots was profoundly meaningful.

However, Eugene's flying career came to an abrupt and bitter end in November 1917. When the United States entered World War I in April 1917, American officials began the process of transferring American volunteers from French service to the newly formed American Expeditionary Force. Eugene applied for this transfer, hoping to serve his birth country despite all the pain it had caused him. His application was rejected solely because of his race, as the American military maintained strict segregation and refused to accept black pilots under any circumstances.

More devastating than the American rejection was what happened next. According to Eugene's own account, he got into an argument with a French officer who made racist remarks, and this confrontation was used as an excuse to remove him from flight duty entirely. Some historians believe that American officials, particularly Dr. Edmund Gros, the American liaison to the Lafayette Escadrille, pressured the French to ground Eugene to avoid embarrassing the United States military's segregation policies. Regardless of the exact circumstances, Eugene found himself transferred back to his old infantry regiment, where he spent the remainder of the war in non-combat roles.

The end of Eugene's flying career was a devastating blow to a man who had found purpose and dignity in the cockpit of a fighter plane. He had proven that black men could be skilled pilots and courageous warriors, but the color line that had driven him from America reached across the Atlantic to end his dreams of aerial combat. For the rest of the war, Eugene served in support roles, watching other men fly the missions he longed to undertake.

When the armistice was signed in November 1918, Eugene faced a choice about his future. He could return to the United States, where his service record might earn him some measure of respect, or he could remain in France, the country that had given him opportunities he never could have found in America. He chose to stay in Paris, beginning a new chapter of his life that would see him become a central figure in the Jazz Age expatriate community.

Eugene threw himself into the vibrant cultural scene of post-war Paris, where American jazz music was taking the city by storm. He learned to play drums from Louis Mitchell, a pioneering jazz musician who had come to Paris during the war. Eugene's natural rhythm and his ability to connect with people made him a popular figure in the Montmartre nightclub scene, and he soon found work as a drummer and manager at Zelli's, one of the most famous nightclubs in Paris.

Zelli's was owned by Joe Zelli, an American entrepreneur who had created a venue that stayed open until dawn, unlike most Parisian establishments that closed at midnight. The club attracted an international crowd of artists, writers, wealthy Americans, and European nobility, all drawn by the intoxicating combination of jazz music, flowing champagne, and the libertine atmosphere of post-war Paris. Eugene's role at Zelli's put him at the center of this glamorous world, where he rubbed shoulders with some of the most famous people of the era.

It was during this period that Eugene became friends with Ernest Hemingway, who was then a struggling young writer living in Paris. Hemingway was fascinated by Eugene's life story and his larger-than-life personality, and he used Eugene as inspiration for a minor character in his novel "The Sun Also Rises." The character, a black drummer in a Paris nightclub, was a small but significant acknowledgment of Eugene's place in the expatriate community that Hemingway chronicled in his fiction.

Eugene also developed friendships with other luminaries of the era, including the legendary entertainer Josephine Baker, who had come to Paris from St. Louis and become the toast of European show business. Baker and Eugene bonded over their shared experience as black Americans who had found freedom and success in France, and they remained close friends for years. Eugene also knew jazz great Louis Armstrong, composer Cole Porter, writer F. Scott Fitzgerald, and artist Pablo Picasso, among many others. His ability to move between different social circles and his genuine warmth made him a beloved figure in Paris society.

In 1924, Eugene took over management of another nightclub called Le Grand Duc, where he hired promising young performers and helped launch careers. One of his most notable discoveries was Langston Hughes, the future poet laureate of the Harlem Renaissance, whom Eugene hired as a dishwasher when Hughes was a broke young writer trying to make his way in Paris. Eugene recognized Hughes's talent and encouraged his literary pursuits, providing him with the financial stability he needed to focus on his writing.

Eugene eventually purchased Le Grand Duc from Ada "Bricktop" Smith, a famous American entertainer, and later opened a second establishment called L'Escadrille, named after his wartime aviation service. The club featured not only a nightclub but also Bullard's Athletic Club, a gymnasium where Eugene worked as a trainer for professional boxers including Panama Al Brown and Young Perez. Eugene's diverse business interests reflected his restless energy and his ability to succeed in whatever field he entered.

In 1923, Eugene married Marcelle Eugénie Henriette Straumann, the daughter of a wealthy Parisian family who worked as a milliner in the city's fashionable second arrondissement. The marriage represented Eugene's complete integration into French society and his transformation from a poor black boy from Georgia into a successful businessman and family man. Eugene and Marcelle had two daughters, Jacqueline and Lolita, and for a time it seemed that Eugene had achieved the perfect life that had seemed impossible during his childhood in the American South.

However, the marriage ultimately failed, and Eugene and Marcelle separated in 1931, though they never divorced because both were Catholics. The reasons for the separation remain unclear, but the demands of Eugene's nightclub business, which required him to work late hours and socialize with customers, may have put strain on the relationship. Despite the separation, Eugene remained devoted to his daughters and continued to support them financially.

As the 1930s progressed and tensions rose in Europe, Eugene found himself drawn once again into the world of international conflict. In 1937, he began working for French counterintelligence, using his nightclubs and his linguistic abilities to spy on German citizens living in Paris. Eugene spoke fluent German in addition to French and English, and his establishments were popular with German officers and civilians who had no idea that the friendly black American who greeted them at the door was actually gathering intelligence for the French government.

Eugene's work as a spy was extremely dangerous, as discovery would have meant certain death at the hands of the Gestapo. His nightclubs provided perfect cover for intelligence gathering, as alcohol loosened tongues and the relaxed atmosphere encouraged people to speak freely about their plans and activities. Eugene cultivated friendships with German patrons while secretly reporting their conversations to his French handlers, walking a tightrope between hospitality and espionage.

When Germany invaded France in May 1940, Eugene's world collapsed overnight. The Germans occupied Paris, his nightclubs were closed, and his life as a successful businessman and spy came to an abrupt end. At the age of forty-five, Eugene once again found himself facing an uncertain future and the prospect of starting over in a new country. Despite his age and his previous injuries, he rejoined the French army as an infantryman, serving under one of his old friends from World War I.

Eugene's second tour of duty was brief but heroic. During one of the last battles to defend France against the German invasion, Eugene served as a machine gunner in a position that came under heavy enemy fire. When the smoke cleared, Eugene was the only survivor from his unit, and he had been seriously wounded by shell fragments that damaged his spine. Despite his injuries, he managed to walk approximately seventy-five miles through war-torn countryside to reach safety, displaying the same determination that had carried him from Georgia to Europe decades earlier.

Realizing that occupied France was no longer safe for him or his daughters, Eugene made the painful decision to leave the country that had been his home for nearly three decades. He walked another three hundred miles to Spain, acquired a passport with the help of American officials, and boarded a ship bound for New York City. Behind him, he left his properties, his businesses, and the life he had built in Paris. Most painfully, he left behind his two daughters, who remained in France with their mother.

Eugene's return to America in 1940 was a profound culture shock. In France, he had been Eugene Bullard, war hero, successful businessman, and respected member of society. In America, he was just another black man in a country that still practiced legal segregation and where his accomplishments meant nothing to most white Americans. He found work as a longshoreman in New York, manual labor that was a far cry from the glamorous life he had led in Paris.

Despite his reduced circumstances, Eugene threw himself into the war effort, participating in war bond drives and using his story to encourage Americans to support the fight against fascism. He also worked various jobs to support himself, including operating an elevator at Rockefeller Center, where he worked for many years in relative anonymity. Few of the people who rode in his elevator had any idea that the quiet black man running the controls was a decorated war hero who had rubbed shoulders with some of the most famous people of his era.

In 1949, Eugene's commitment to civil rights led him to attend a concert by Paul Robeson in Peekskill, New York. The concert was organized as a benefit for the Civil Rights Congress, but it was attacked by a white supremacist mob that included members of the Ku Klux Klan, local police, and state troopers. Eugene was viciously beaten by the mob, suffering injuries that were photographed and filmed but which resulted in no arrests or prosecutions. The attack on the seventy-four-year-old war veteran became a symbol of the persistent racism that plagued American society even after World War II.

Despite the violence he encountered at Peekskill, Eugene continued to work for civil rights causes throughout the 1950s. He also maintained his connection to France, which had not forgotten his service to the country. In 1954, Eugene was chosen as one of the veterans to relight the Eternal Flame at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier under the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, a tremendous honor that recognized his contributions to French military history. In 1959, President Charles de Gaulle made Eugene a Knight of the Legion of Honor, France's highest decoration, calling him "a true French hero."

During his later years in New York, Eugene found some solace in his friendship with Louis Armstrong, who hired him as a tour manager and occasional drummer for his European tours in the 1950s. Armstrong, who had become one of the most famous musicians in the world, never forgot Eugene's role in helping black American performers find acceptance in Paris during the 1920s. Their friendship was a reminder of the golden days in Montmartre when Eugene had been at the center of the jazz world.

Eugene also worked on an autobiography during his final years, hoping to tell his remarkable story to a wider audience. The book, which he planned to title "All Blood Runs Red" after the motto painted on his World War I fighter plane, was never completed during his lifetime. Eugene died of stomach cancer on October 12, 1961, just three days after his sixty-sixth birthday, in Harlem Hospital in New York City.

Eugene's death passed largely unnoticed in American newspapers, a final injustice for a man whose life had been filled with extraordinary achievements. He was buried with military honors in the French War Veterans section of Flushing Cemetery in Queens, not far from where his old friend Louis Armstrong would eventually be laid to rest. The funeral was attended by a small group of friends and fellow veterans, but there was no recognition from the American military or government for which he had been willing to fight despite their rejection of his service.

It was only decades after his death that Eugene Bullard began to receive the recognition he deserved. In 1994, the United States Air Force finally acknowledged him as the first African American military pilot, and in 2019, a statue honoring him was unveiled in Columbus, Georgia, the city he had fled as a child. France has consistently honored his memory, and his story has become an inspiration for those who refuse to accept the limitations that society tries to impose based on race or circumstance.

Eugene Jacques Bullard's life reads like an adventure novel because it was, in fact, an adventure of the highest order. From a poor black child in Jim Crow Georgia to a decorated war hero, successful businessman, and international spy, he repeatedly defied the expectations and limitations that others tried to place on him. His story is a testament to the power of determination, courage, and the refusal to accept that one's circumstances of birth must determine the limits of one's achievements. In an era when most African Americans were denied basic civil rights, Eugene Bullard lived a life of extraordinary freedom and accomplishment, proving that human potential knows no racial boundaries.