Eugene Jacques Bullard

Soldier and pilot

• Born: October 9, 1894
• Birthplace: Columbus, Georgia
• Died: October 12, 1961
• Place of death: Harlem, New York

Bullard was the first African American to fly an airplane in combat. His wartime experiences as a military pilot in France proved African Americans were just as capable as whites of operating aircraft. Bullard’s success, however, did not convince the U.S. armed forces to stop enforcing segregationist policies that prevented African Americans from training as military aviators.

Early Life

Eugene James Bullard (yew-JEEN jaymz BOOL-ard), born on October 9, 1895, in Columbus, Georgia, was the son of William Bullard and Josephine (Thomas) Bullard. His father, whose parents had been slaves on a western Georgia plantation, worked for the local W. C. Bradley Company. Bullard’s mother earned income washing laundry and sewing. Her family included Creek Indians who owned land. In summers, Bullard visited those relatives at their rural homes. He endured violence and racism in his community; approximately half of the city’s 30,000 population was African American.

Bullard’s mother died in August, 1902. Her death and dangers his father encountered at work upset Bullard. His father consoled him by describing fascinating places in the world, including France, emphasizing that people were considered equal there regardless of their skin color.

After a disagreement with his father, Bullard left home when he was eleven years old. He found work as an agricultural laborer and jockey, racing horses at county fairs. He might have seen posters advertising that Charles Wesley Peters, the first African American pilot, was scheduled to fly at the 1911 Colored State Fair in Macon, Georgia. The next year, Bullard traveled to Norfolk, Virginia, where he hid on a German ship returning to Europe. Forced to disembark in Scotland, Bullard traveled south to Liverpool, England, where he secured employment at a gym and became a boxer. He boxed throughout Europe, including a 1913 bout in Paris, where he decided to settle.

Life’s Work

Bullard quickly assimilated in his adopted country, becoming fluent in French and adopting “Jacques” as his middle name. When World War I began, he joined the French Foreign Legion on October 9, 1914, and was assigned to the 170th Infantry. In August, 1915, Bullard’s father wrote to the U.S. State Department stating that his son was nineteen when he enlisted and requesting that he return home. Bullard remained in France. At Verdun in February, 1916, a German shell explosion damaged Bullard’s left thigh.

Too wounded for trench warfare, Bullard decided to become a combat pilot. In October, 1916, he began to train at Tours’ flight school, becoming a licensed pilot on May 5, 1917. He pursued advanced flight training at Châteauroux, Avord, and Plessis Belleville. In late August, 1917, Bullard joined pilots in squadron N-93 at the front. On September 8, 1917, he flew his first combat missions. He served with squadron N-85 beginning in mid-September and completed approximately twenty missions. Bullard claimed he shot down two German airplanes in dogfights, but no official observers verified either incident.

In autumn, 1917, U.S. Army Air Corps officials recruited American pilots affiliated with the Lafayette Escadrille. Bullard emphasized his qualifications but was not offered a position because of his race. He flew with the French military until November 11, 1917, when he resumed infantry duties, never flying in combat again. The Crisis, Chicago Defender, and other African American periodicals wrote about Bullard’s accomplishments. The French military honorably discharged Bullard. He received numerous medals, including the Croix de Guerre.

Bullard envisioned, but never established, a French flight school for African Americans. He married Marcelle Straumann on July 17, 1923, in Paris. They had two daughters and one son before their December 5, 1935, divorce. After German troops invaded France in 1940, Bullard fought with Fifty-first Infantry forces near Orleans and Le Blanc, where shrapnel wounded his spine. Officers worried that if the Germans apprehended Bullard they might kill him because of his skin color. Bullard eluded enemy forces, reaching Lisbon, Portugal, where he departed aboard the Manhattan on July 12 for were chosen.

Bullard resided in Harlem and volunteered for the organization France Forever, writing Tuskegee Institute president Frederick D. Patterson in September, 1941, that Free French forces needed pilots, suggesting Bullard knew about the Tuskegee Airmen. The French government honored Bullard with the title Chevalier in the Legion of Honor and included him in military ceremonies in France and New York, where French president Charles de Gaulle requested to meet Bullard. Suffering from cancer, Bullard finished composing his memoirs. He died on October 12, 1961, and was buried in a Federation of French War Veterans cemetery plot at Flushing, New York.

Significance

The African American community embraced Bullard as a role model. His achievements inspired pioneer African American aviatrix Bessie Coleman to earn her pilot’s license in France. Other African Americans eager to fly in combat, such as the Tuskegee Airmen, cited Bullard’s record as a successful military pilot. In the late twentieth century, Bullard began to receive broader recognition from his native country. The National Air and Space Museum and the Georgia Aviation Hall of Fame included Bullard in their exhibits. President Bill Clinton designated Bullard posthumously a U.S. Air Force second lieutenant. These tributes emphasized Bullard’s heroism, patriotism, and endurance to confront racism and excel.

Bibliography

Broadnax, Samuel L. Blue Skies, Black Wings: African American Pioneers of Aviation. Foreword by Alan M. Osur. Westport, Conn.: Praeger, 2007. Tuskegee Airman author examines Bullard’s military flying accomplishments in context of other early African American pilots who circumvented segregation.

Carisella, P. J., and James W. Ryan. The Black Swallow of Death. Boston: Marlborough House, 1972. Illustrated biography incorporates excerpts from Bullard’s journal, including some inaccuracies he purposefully misrepresented or remembered incorrectly.

Lloyd, Craig. Eugene Bullard: Black Expatriate in Jazz-Age Paris. Athens: University of Georgia Press, 2000. Comprehensive account benefits from author’s research in French archives, visits to U.S. and European Bullard sites, and awareness of documents verifying biographical information.

Wilson, John H. “’All Blood Runs Red’: Eugene Bullard Made History as the World’s First Black Pilot.” Aviation History 17, no. 4 (March, 2007): 13-15. Summarizes Bullard’s French flight experiences. Photographs show Bullard’s pilot’s license and airplane.