Quiz Time! The First Black Wartime Aviator Was-

[KittyWampus]

Eugene Bullard (1895-1961).



He was an aviator during World War I, a generation before the Tuskagee Airmen!

From Amazon.com on book about Eugene Bullard:

the first black wartime aviator and celebrated prize fighter, musician, and decorated member of the French foreign legion and the French airforce in World War I. Beginning with his birth in Georgia, the author charts Bullard's boyhood, his flight from home, and his emigration to Scotland and then to Paris as a stowaway in 1912. There, in the city's tolerant racial climate, Bullard soaked up the cabaret scene and mingled with jazz stars Sidney Bechet and Josephine Baker. Lloyd continues with Bullard's role in the French fight against Nazism during World War II and his flight to New York in 1940, where he battled racism until his death and was awarded the Croix de Guerre. Providing excellent background material, especially about Paris after World War I,

[dipsydoodle]

1. Blimey

I'm not surprised he's had a book written about him.

Respect. :thumbsup:

I just bought the last one on Amazon.com : they cost a fortune on Amazon.co.uk.

[KittyWampus]

2. Two books. There should be a movie.

[dipsydoodle]

3. I bought

Eugene Bullard, Black Expatriate in Jazz-Age Paris - I'm a jazz fanatic anyway.....lol.

What is the title of the other book ?

:hi:

[KittyWampus]

5. I learned about him for 1st time watching PBS's "Harlem in Montmarte". The footage was jaw dropping

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/gperf/episodes/harlem-in-montmartre/preview-of-harlem-in-montmartre/827/

[dipsydoodle]

11. Trailer for that here

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=22GsV-7XgD4

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

10. Oscar bait AND lots of action! Count me in! -nt

[KittyWampus]

13. seriously, he ran away at age 8 and live with gypsies where he raced horses...

stowed away on a German ship, became a prize fighter...

he's the PERFECT figure for a movie.

Even his parents were interesting.

Eugene Jacques Bullard was born on October 9, 1894, in Columbus Georgia, the seventh of ten children born to William (Octave) Bullard, a black from Martinique, and Josephine ("Yokalee") Thomas, a Creek Indian. Eugene’s father could trace their family roots as far back as the American Revolution. His family came from Martinique, an Island in the West Indies and spoke French as an everyday language. They arrived in America as slaves when their French owners fled the Haitian revolution. His mother died at age thirty three when Eugene was only five, leaving his father to raise him. Eugene said his father was an educated man who worked hard as a laborer and treasured his hours at home telling his children tales from the books he read. It was his father’s influence and those stories that would shape Eugene’s direction in life.

[Canuckistanian]

12. There was. It was called "Flyboys."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flyboys_%28film%29

Although, I'm sure the film didn't give justice to his life.

See his remarkable life in the Wiki entry:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugene_Bullard

[struggle4progress]

4. Corporal Eugene Jacques Bullard

... Corporal Eugene Bullard painted a red bleeding heart pierced by a knife on the fuselage of his Spad. Below the heart was the inscription "Tout le Sang qui coule est rouge!" ... In July 1939, he joined the French underground and resistance movement. He spoke three languages including German, and readily agreed to honor a request to spy for France ... In 1954, the French government requested his presence to help relight the Eternal Flame of the Tomb of the Unknown French Soldier at the Arc de Triomphe in Paris ... On August 23, 1994, seventy seven years after Bullard’s American flight physical, the USAF posthumously commissioned him a Lieutenant. http://www.airpower.maxwell.af.mil/apjinternational/apj-s/2005/3tri05/chivaletteeng.html

[DemoTex]

6. Excellent post.

K&R

[Number23]

7. Does he look like Wesley Snipes (pre-fail) or what?? YUMMM

:loveya:

This would be a welcome addition to the Black History thread in AAIG! http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=258x2983 :hi:

[dipsydoodle]

9. Nope

Wesley Snipes looks like him. :)

[Bigmack]

8. A thought....

How many men and women of this quality did this country waste in slavery? Imagine where we would be without the multi-generational racism?

[Robb]

15. Indeed.

...Remind anyone else of a current-events debate on who "gets" to serve in the military?

[KittyWampus]

17. with his record of accomplishments, Ballard could perhaps have been a prominent politician

if he were white.

[Historic NY]

14. Very good............

[Captain Hilts]

16. Cool! I've read a lot about the Tuskegee Airmen but didn't know him. nt