1 00:00:01,280 --> 00:00:04,320 Speaker 1: Welcome to stuff you missed in history class, a production 2 00:00:04,400 --> 00:00:13,720 Speaker 1: of I heart radio. Hello and welcome to the PODCAST. 3 00:00:13,760 --> 00:00:17,159 Speaker 1: I'm Tracy Vie Wilson and I'm Holly Fry. Today is 4 00:00:17,200 --> 00:00:21,480 Speaker 1: the second part of our two parter on Eugene Jacques Bullard. 5 00:00:22,000 --> 00:00:26,759 Speaker 1: In part one we talked about his upbringing, his leaving 6 00:00:26,800 --> 00:00:29,960 Speaker 1: the US to go to Europe and his becoming the 7 00:00:30,000 --> 00:00:35,400 Speaker 1: first black American combat pilot. Uh. There were a handful 8 00:00:35,479 --> 00:00:40,240 Speaker 1: of other black combat pilots, but not from the United States. Um, 9 00:00:40,280 --> 00:00:44,280 Speaker 1: so that is the first that he is recognized as. Uh. 10 00:00:44,640 --> 00:00:49,600 Speaker 1: He had a whole long life beyond that, though, and 11 00:00:49,680 --> 00:00:52,680 Speaker 1: that is what we're going to talk about today. After 12 00:00:52,760 --> 00:00:56,360 Speaker 1: World War One ended, Eugene Jacques Bullard returned to Paris. 13 00:00:56,920 --> 00:00:59,560 Speaker 1: He was a war hero thanks to his infantry service 14 00:00:59,600 --> 00:01:02,800 Speaker 1: in the Front Foreign Legion and Hundred and Seventieth Infantry 15 00:01:02,840 --> 00:01:05,760 Speaker 1: Regiment of the French army and his service as a 16 00:01:05,800 --> 00:01:08,720 Speaker 1: combat pilot in the Lafayette Esquadrille, which was a unit 17 00:01:08,760 --> 00:01:12,760 Speaker 1: of mostly American pilots who flew for France. Before the war, 18 00:01:12,880 --> 00:01:15,319 Speaker 1: he had been a boxer and a performer in various 19 00:01:15,400 --> 00:01:18,200 Speaker 1: Vaudeville and MINSTREL troops. And while he wanted to get 20 00:01:18,200 --> 00:01:21,400 Speaker 1: back to boxing, he also needed to make ends meet 21 00:01:21,440 --> 00:01:25,280 Speaker 1: while he got back into boxing condition and continued to 22 00:01:25,319 --> 00:01:27,800 Speaker 1: recover from a serious injury to his leg that he 23 00:01:27,840 --> 00:01:31,960 Speaker 1: had gotten during his service. So he decided to become 24 00:01:32,000 --> 00:01:37,039 Speaker 1: a musician, specifically a jazz drummer. This sounds maybe a 25 00:01:37,080 --> 00:01:40,679 Speaker 1: little counterintuitive. I know if I needed to go make money, 26 00:01:40,880 --> 00:01:43,480 Speaker 1: I'm going to be a jazz drummer. Probably would not 27 00:01:43,560 --> 00:01:48,120 Speaker 1: be at the top of the list. But jazz really 28 00:01:48,200 --> 00:01:51,360 Speaker 1: surged in popularity in France towards the end of World 29 00:01:51,360 --> 00:01:55,160 Speaker 1: War One. One big reason was the three sixty nine 30 00:01:55,320 --> 00:01:59,800 Speaker 1: regimental army band, also known as the Harlem hellfighters. Marching 31 00:02:00,040 --> 00:02:04,040 Speaker 1: and leading this band was black musician and composer James 32 00:02:04,040 --> 00:02:08,120 Speaker 1: Reese Europe, who had recruited the band's members, including traveling 33 00:02:08,120 --> 00:02:12,760 Speaker 1: to Puerto Rico and recruiting eighteen Afro Puerto Ricans from there. 34 00:02:13,520 --> 00:02:17,359 Speaker 1: The Harlem Hellfighters Band arrived in Europe in nineteen eighteen 35 00:02:17,400 --> 00:02:23,200 Speaker 1: and introduced audiences all over Europe to jazz, specifically to 36 00:02:23,560 --> 00:02:30,760 Speaker 1: jazz performed by black musicians, not kind of jazz derived 37 00:02:30,840 --> 00:02:33,760 Speaker 1: from Black People's music and performed by white people, which 38 00:02:33,800 --> 00:02:36,560 Speaker 1: was what most people's experience had been so far. Most 39 00:02:36,680 --> 00:02:40,200 Speaker 1: people who had been performing things like ragtime and other 40 00:02:40,320 --> 00:02:43,959 Speaker 1: musical styles that evolved into jazz in Europe had also 41 00:02:44,200 --> 00:02:47,520 Speaker 1: been white before this point. At the same time, things 42 00:02:47,560 --> 00:02:52,239 Speaker 1: were shifting in neighborhoods around Paris. MONMASCA had been established 43 00:02:52,280 --> 00:02:55,360 Speaker 1: as a center of entertainment, culture and art, home to 44 00:02:55,400 --> 00:02:59,880 Speaker 1: Bohemians Avant Garde artists in a thriving nightlife. This is 45 00:03:00,040 --> 00:03:03,600 Speaker 1: come up on various episodes of our show before, including 46 00:03:03,720 --> 00:03:07,720 Speaker 1: our episode on French artists, Marie Laurence, who hosted various 47 00:03:07,760 --> 00:03:11,079 Speaker 1: people connected with the cubist movement in her Montmartre apartment 48 00:03:11,160 --> 00:03:14,880 Speaker 1: prior to World War One. During the war, artists and 49 00:03:14,919 --> 00:03:19,119 Speaker 1: performers started moving from Montmartre to Montparnasse on the other 50 00:03:19,200 --> 00:03:21,760 Speaker 1: side of the sin, and many of the cabarets and 51 00:03:21,840 --> 00:03:25,280 Speaker 1: music halls in Montmartre closed down. A lot of these 52 00:03:25,320 --> 00:03:28,360 Speaker 1: spaces were small and they were very well suited to 53 00:03:28,400 --> 00:03:33,560 Speaker 1: performances by jazz ensembles. So as the war ended, the 54 00:03:33,680 --> 00:03:38,520 Speaker 1: demand for jazz music combined with these newly available nightclubs 55 00:03:38,560 --> 00:03:43,480 Speaker 1: and concert halls to bring a thriving black community to Montmartre. 56 00:03:44,360 --> 00:03:47,400 Speaker 1: Some of these new clubs and restaurants and other venues 57 00:03:47,480 --> 00:03:50,360 Speaker 1: were owned by white people and others were black owned. 58 00:03:51,320 --> 00:03:55,760 Speaker 1: In addition to people like Eugene Bullard who were already 59 00:03:55,760 --> 00:03:59,200 Speaker 1: living in Europe, performers from the US started coming to 60 00:03:59,280 --> 00:04:02,920 Speaker 1: France hoping to find a home in this burgeoning music scene. 61 00:04:03,520 --> 00:04:06,880 Speaker 1: There were also black people from France's colonies in Africa 62 00:04:06,960 --> 00:04:09,400 Speaker 1: and the Caribbeans, some of whom had been sent to 63 00:04:09,480 --> 00:04:13,680 Speaker 1: France to study in one of Paris's universities. A number 64 00:04:13,720 --> 00:04:16,279 Speaker 1: of factors in the US were a part of this 65 00:04:16,400 --> 00:04:20,560 Speaker 1: influx of black people, including black musicians, to Paris. Some 66 00:04:20,680 --> 00:04:24,120 Speaker 1: people were hoping to escape from widespread racism, which became 67 00:04:24,160 --> 00:04:27,839 Speaker 1: increasingly violent after the war. We talked about this in 68 00:04:27,880 --> 00:04:30,719 Speaker 1: our Harlem Hell Fighters Episode that was a Saturday classic 69 00:04:30,720 --> 00:04:34,280 Speaker 1: in and in our episode on the Red Summer of 70 00:04:34,400 --> 00:04:38,400 Speaker 1: Nineteen nineteen that came out in June of nineteen. The 71 00:04:38,520 --> 00:04:41,799 Speaker 1: Eighteenth Amendment to the U S Constitution went into effect 72 00:04:41,800 --> 00:04:46,320 Speaker 1: in nineteen twenty, banning the manufacture and sale of alcoholic beverages, 73 00:04:46,760 --> 00:04:49,680 Speaker 1: and that prompted people whose livelihoods had been built around 74 00:04:49,760 --> 00:04:53,840 Speaker 1: performing in nightclubs and bars to leave. Other black American 75 00:04:53,880 --> 00:04:57,080 Speaker 1: performers who worked and established businesses in France during this 76 00:04:57,200 --> 00:05:01,640 Speaker 1: era included Josephine Baker, Ada Smith, also known as brick top, 77 00:05:01,800 --> 00:05:06,000 Speaker 1: and Adelaide Hall. So even though he was pretty new 78 00:05:06,040 --> 00:05:09,560 Speaker 1: to being a drummer, there was enough demand for musicians 79 00:05:09,640 --> 00:05:13,839 Speaker 1: in Paris that bullard started getting gigs pretty quickly. He 80 00:05:13,960 --> 00:05:16,760 Speaker 1: joined the House band at a club owned by Joe Zelli, 81 00:05:16,880 --> 00:05:20,719 Speaker 1: who was born in Italy and immigrated to the US 82 00:05:20,839 --> 00:05:25,520 Speaker 1: before returning to Europe around nineteen ten Zelli was nicknamed 83 00:05:25,680 --> 00:05:30,760 Speaker 1: King of cabaret keepers and ran enormously popular clubs in Molmarch. 84 00:05:31,800 --> 00:05:34,679 Speaker 1: Bullard was hired to play the drums and to work 85 00:05:35,040 --> 00:05:38,880 Speaker 1: as the club's artistic director, booking acts to perform at 86 00:05:38,920 --> 00:05:43,400 Speaker 1: the club and also hiring and managing other employees. As 87 00:05:43,400 --> 00:05:47,839 Speaker 1: a side note, Ernest Hemingway's novel the Sun also rises 88 00:05:48,279 --> 00:05:52,880 Speaker 1: is based on his experiences in Europe, particularly Paris and Pamplona, 89 00:05:52,960 --> 00:05:56,240 Speaker 1: and there is some speculation that an unnamed black drummer 90 00:05:56,279 --> 00:06:00,640 Speaker 1: playing at Zell's in the book is in fact Eugene Bullard. So, 91 00:06:00,680 --> 00:06:02,839 Speaker 1: as we talked about in part one, one of the 92 00:06:02,880 --> 00:06:05,839 Speaker 1: reasons Bullard had left the United States was to try 93 00:06:05,880 --> 00:06:09,200 Speaker 1: to escape from racism. He had heard that in Europe 94 00:06:09,360 --> 00:06:13,120 Speaker 1: racism wasn't as prevalent as in the US. He had 95 00:06:13,160 --> 00:06:16,840 Speaker 1: described his arrival in Europe as a relief. He no 96 00:06:16,880 --> 00:06:20,000 Speaker 1: longer felt that he was continually at risk or just 97 00:06:20,160 --> 00:06:24,840 Speaker 1: faced with ongoing hostility from white people. He had definitely 98 00:06:24,960 --> 00:06:29,080 Speaker 1: experienced discrimination. We talked about a lot of ways that 99 00:06:29,120 --> 00:06:31,280 Speaker 1: he had in part one, but it just wasn't on 100 00:06:31,320 --> 00:06:34,159 Speaker 1: the scale of what he had lived through in the 101 00:06:34,279 --> 00:06:37,960 Speaker 1: United States. This started to shift a little bit after 102 00:06:38,040 --> 00:06:41,760 Speaker 1: World War One in Paris, though a number of factors 103 00:06:41,760 --> 00:06:46,280 Speaker 1: had shaped racial attitudes in France before this point. France's 104 00:06:46,279 --> 00:06:51,279 Speaker 1: colonial empire included territory in the Caribbean, North Africa and Asia, 105 00:06:51,400 --> 00:06:55,040 Speaker 1: and there was widespread racial prejudice against people of color 106 00:06:55,240 --> 00:06:59,039 Speaker 1: from all of these colonized areas. The actions of the 107 00:06:59,040 --> 00:07:03,719 Speaker 1: French colonial naments in these areas could also be appalling. Uh, 108 00:07:04,120 --> 00:07:06,440 Speaker 1: we acknowledge that, but that's also kind of beyond the 109 00:07:06,480 --> 00:07:09,240 Speaker 1: scope of what we're talking about here today. At the 110 00:07:09,279 --> 00:07:11,960 Speaker 1: same time, the number of people from any of these 111 00:07:12,000 --> 00:07:16,360 Speaker 1: areas in France was relatively small. Many were the children 112 00:07:16,360 --> 00:07:18,680 Speaker 1: of the most affluent and elite who had been sent 113 00:07:18,720 --> 00:07:21,720 Speaker 1: to France to study, and they were perceived more as 114 00:07:21,760 --> 00:07:26,040 Speaker 1: exotic outsiders. So that was the case before World War One. 115 00:07:26,480 --> 00:07:29,960 Speaker 1: The first world war brought larger numbers of people of 116 00:07:30,000 --> 00:07:34,600 Speaker 1: Color into France and also into Europe more broadly. We've 117 00:07:34,640 --> 00:07:38,920 Speaker 1: already mentioned the two hundred thousand Black Americans who served 118 00:07:38,960 --> 00:07:42,600 Speaker 1: in Europe during the war. France also recruited more than 119 00:07:42,680 --> 00:07:47,080 Speaker 1: five hundred thousand soldiers from its colonial territories, including from 120 00:07:47,120 --> 00:07:51,480 Speaker 1: West Africa, Morocco and Madagascar. Some of these people were 121 00:07:51,480 --> 00:07:57,080 Speaker 1: recruited by force. Although African soldiers often served in Africa, 122 00:07:57,240 --> 00:08:00,640 Speaker 1: some of them also served in continental Europe. The French 123 00:08:00,720 --> 00:08:04,840 Speaker 1: government brought in laborers from their colonial territories as well 124 00:08:05,240 --> 00:08:10,880 Speaker 1: and contract workers from China. Incidents of racist violence and 125 00:08:11,080 --> 00:08:15,080 Speaker 1: xenophobic violenced against foreign workers from other parts of Europe 126 00:08:15,160 --> 00:08:19,320 Speaker 1: really started to escalate in France starting around nineteen seventeen 127 00:08:20,200 --> 00:08:23,120 Speaker 1: after the war, France saw some of the trends we've 128 00:08:23,120 --> 00:08:25,960 Speaker 1: talked about in the context of the United States, as 129 00:08:26,320 --> 00:08:29,400 Speaker 1: returning white soldiers found that they were now competing with 130 00:08:29,440 --> 00:08:32,560 Speaker 1: people of color the jobs that they had previously held. 131 00:08:33,440 --> 00:08:37,720 Speaker 1: As large black communities settled in places like Montmatre, this 132 00:08:38,200 --> 00:08:41,440 Speaker 1: made them targets as well. Adding to all of this 133 00:08:41,559 --> 00:08:44,000 Speaker 1: were white American G I S who did not return 134 00:08:44,040 --> 00:08:46,880 Speaker 1: to the US immediately or who came back to France, 135 00:08:46,920 --> 00:08:49,960 Speaker 1: and they pushed for the same systems of segregation and 136 00:08:50,000 --> 00:08:53,840 Speaker 1: white supremacy that they were used to at home. Of course, 137 00:08:54,000 --> 00:08:58,000 Speaker 1: all of this effected Eugene Bullard. In May of Nineteen nineteen. 138 00:08:58,080 --> 00:09:01,080 Speaker 1: He stood up at a cafe and accidentally bumped into 139 00:09:01,120 --> 00:09:04,080 Speaker 1: a white officer behind him, and this led to an 140 00:09:04,080 --> 00:09:09,080 Speaker 1: altercation in which the officer knocked bullard unconscious. Bullard went 141 00:09:09,120 --> 00:09:11,640 Speaker 1: to the hospital and was released the next day. And 142 00:09:11,640 --> 00:09:14,600 Speaker 1: then somehow this turned into a weird case of mistaken 143 00:09:14,679 --> 00:09:19,240 Speaker 1: identity in which Parisian newspapers reported that the Dixie kid 144 00:09:19,880 --> 00:09:23,040 Speaker 1: had been killed by a white American army officer. For 145 00:09:23,160 --> 00:09:27,240 Speaker 1: a refresh from part, one black American boxer, Aaron Lester Brown, 146 00:09:27,520 --> 00:09:30,920 Speaker 1: was known as the Dixie Kid. Some reporters seemed to 147 00:09:30,960 --> 00:09:34,920 Speaker 1: have thought Bullard was the dixie kid. There's just the 148 00:09:35,000 --> 00:09:39,360 Speaker 1: whole very irritating confusion of two different black men and 149 00:09:39,440 --> 00:09:43,480 Speaker 1: kind of conflating them in this reporting. I have this 150 00:09:43,600 --> 00:09:45,680 Speaker 1: vision in my head of how this happened, which is 151 00:09:45,720 --> 00:09:51,360 Speaker 1: that somebody said that black American boxer got knocked out. Oh, 152 00:09:51,440 --> 00:09:54,839 Speaker 1: of course that was that one. Yeah, it's when people 153 00:09:54,880 --> 00:09:58,360 Speaker 1: started saying that Bullard was the Dixie kid that I'm like, okay, 154 00:09:58,400 --> 00:10:04,240 Speaker 1: that those were two different people. Now, Um, and this 155 00:10:04,320 --> 00:10:06,720 Speaker 1: is an aside, they reported that he had been killed, 156 00:10:06,840 --> 00:10:10,000 Speaker 1: not just yeah, they reported that he had been killed 157 00:10:10,000 --> 00:10:16,080 Speaker 1: and not just entered. There was just a very inaccurate uh. 158 00:10:16,120 --> 00:10:19,080 Speaker 1: Here's the thing. This was not an isolated incident. One 159 00:10:19,120 --> 00:10:22,040 Speaker 1: of the sources used to this episode described Bullard as 160 00:10:22,120 --> 00:10:27,079 Speaker 1: never passing up the chance to punch a racist. Bullard 161 00:10:27,080 --> 00:10:29,760 Speaker 1: filed a libel suit against the French edition of the 162 00:10:29,840 --> 00:10:33,520 Speaker 1: Chicago Tribune, which had published an article about an incident 163 00:10:33,559 --> 00:10:36,520 Speaker 1: in which bullard punched a man who was subjecting him 164 00:10:36,520 --> 00:10:41,359 Speaker 1: to a racist tirade. The Tribunes reporting was false and defamatory, 165 00:10:41,400 --> 00:10:44,480 Speaker 1: claiming that Bullard was armed with brass knuckles, which he 166 00:10:44,600 --> 00:10:48,040 Speaker 1: was not, and implying that his transfer from the infantry 167 00:10:48,080 --> 00:10:52,880 Speaker 1: to aviation was motivated by cowardice. The article also falsely 168 00:10:52,960 --> 00:10:55,440 Speaker 1: claimed that, once Bullard was trained as a pilot, that 169 00:10:55,559 --> 00:10:58,920 Speaker 1: he had refused to fly. The French edition of the 170 00:10:58,960 --> 00:11:02,000 Speaker 1: Tribune was forced to print bullard's rebuttal of this story 171 00:11:02,240 --> 00:11:07,480 Speaker 1: on Ma and the Chicago defender reprinted that rebuttal in 172 00:11:07,520 --> 00:11:11,760 Speaker 1: the United States. Yea, his rebuttal clearly spelled out that 173 00:11:11,840 --> 00:11:15,600 Speaker 1: he was in fact a war hero and that their 174 00:11:15,640 --> 00:11:20,199 Speaker 1: reporting of him was racist and faults. So that happened 175 00:11:20,200 --> 00:11:24,080 Speaker 1: actually not that long after Bullard's boxing career ended. He 176 00:11:24,160 --> 00:11:26,360 Speaker 1: had taken a six month break from his job at 177 00:11:26,440 --> 00:11:30,079 Speaker 1: Zeli's when he got a contract to box and Alexandria, Egypt. 178 00:11:30,520 --> 00:11:33,719 Speaker 1: He was badly injured in a match on a nine 179 00:11:34,840 --> 00:11:38,040 Speaker 1: and really couldn't box anymore after that and for the 180 00:11:38,080 --> 00:11:41,040 Speaker 1: next couple of decades his career was focused mostly on 181 00:11:41,200 --> 00:11:43,839 Speaker 1: music and clubs, and we will get to that after 182 00:11:43,880 --> 00:11:58,920 Speaker 1: a quick sponsor break. On July see Eugene Jack Bullard 183 00:11:59,040 --> 00:12:04,640 Speaker 1: married Marcell El Eugenie Henriette straman. Sometimes she has described 184 00:12:04,840 --> 00:12:09,520 Speaker 1: as a countess. Bullard said as much in his autobiography, 185 00:12:09,559 --> 00:12:12,240 Speaker 1: but she was not a countess. Her parents ran a 186 00:12:12,320 --> 00:12:16,320 Speaker 1: successful grocery business and she was a Modiste. They were 187 00:12:16,400 --> 00:12:18,400 Speaker 1: I mean they did well for themselves, but they were 188 00:12:18,440 --> 00:12:21,360 Speaker 1: not fancy rich people in the way that she has 189 00:12:21,400 --> 00:12:25,480 Speaker 1: described sometimes. While bullard seems to have had exaggerated the 190 00:12:25,520 --> 00:12:29,600 Speaker 1: straman family's financial situation. He also said that the difference 191 00:12:29,679 --> 00:12:32,520 Speaker 1: in their economic background raised a lot more eyebrows than 192 00:12:32,559 --> 00:12:34,560 Speaker 1: the fact that he was black and she was white. 193 00:12:35,240 --> 00:12:37,760 Speaker 1: They went on to have three children together, jacqueline in 194 00:12:38,559 --> 00:12:41,959 Speaker 1: four Eugene Junior in ninety six and Lolita in n 195 00:12:43,559 --> 00:12:46,640 Speaker 1: Eugene junior sadly died of pneumonia while he was still 196 00:12:46,640 --> 00:12:50,280 Speaker 1: a baby. Bullard kept working as a drummer and as 197 00:12:50,400 --> 00:12:54,880 Speaker 1: artistic director at Zeli's. In he bought his own nightclub, 198 00:12:54,960 --> 00:12:58,559 Speaker 1: Legrand Duke. Although it was a small club, it became 199 00:12:58,600 --> 00:13:02,920 Speaker 1: incredibly popular with regulars including people like Ernest Hemingway and 200 00:13:03,000 --> 00:13:07,720 Speaker 1: F Scott Fitzgerald. Louis Armstrong and fats waller performed there, 201 00:13:07,760 --> 00:13:11,040 Speaker 1: as did Josephine Baker from time to time. She also 202 00:13:11,120 --> 00:13:16,000 Speaker 1: babysat for Bullard's daughter, Jacqueline. Lankston Hughes also worked at 203 00:13:16,080 --> 00:13:18,960 Speaker 1: La Clan Duke as a dishwasher and Cook while living 204 00:13:19,000 --> 00:13:22,160 Speaker 1: in Paris at the age of twenty two. The same 205 00:13:22,280 --> 00:13:25,600 Speaker 1: year that Bullard bought Le Grand Duke, a memorial to 206 00:13:25,640 --> 00:13:30,480 Speaker 1: the Lafayette Flying Corps was dedicated near Paris. This monument 207 00:13:30,520 --> 00:13:34,000 Speaker 1: was meant to recognize all the members of the Lafayette Escadrille, 208 00:13:34,040 --> 00:13:37,480 Speaker 1: as well as Americans who flew with other French units. 209 00:13:37,520 --> 00:13:40,280 Speaker 1: They were all kind of loosely grouped together in this 210 00:13:40,880 --> 00:13:45,800 Speaker 1: informal designation of the Lafayette Flying Corps. This memorial still 211 00:13:45,800 --> 00:13:48,520 Speaker 1: exists today. It serves as the final resting place for 212 00:13:48,679 --> 00:13:51,720 Speaker 1: most of the American pilots who were killed while flying 213 00:13:51,800 --> 00:13:54,760 Speaker 1: for France and World War One. Those who were missing 214 00:13:54,760 --> 00:13:57,880 Speaker 1: in action or who are buried elsewhere are represented there 215 00:13:57,880 --> 00:14:02,240 Speaker 1: with empty tombs. Even though Bullard had been part of 216 00:14:02,280 --> 00:14:06,160 Speaker 1: the Lafayette Escadrille, he was not even told that dedication 217 00:14:06,320 --> 00:14:09,439 Speaker 1: was happening. He was not on the guest list. One 218 00:14:09,440 --> 00:14:12,600 Speaker 1: of the other pilots, Ted Parsons, came by the Grand 219 00:14:12,679 --> 00:14:14,920 Speaker 1: Duke and took him to the dedication, which was on 220 00:14:15,000 --> 00:14:19,840 Speaker 1: July four. Bullard also discovered that his name had been 221 00:14:19,920 --> 00:14:23,680 Speaker 1: left off the monument's list of pilots. He considered this 222 00:14:23,760 --> 00:14:27,520 Speaker 1: to be truly egregious, especially since the monument did list 223 00:14:27,560 --> 00:14:33,200 Speaker 1: people who had never actually flown. One was Dr Edmund Gross, 224 00:14:33,240 --> 00:14:35,800 Speaker 1: who was involved with the creation and management of the 225 00:14:35,880 --> 00:14:39,720 Speaker 1: Lafayette Esquadrille but was not a pilot. And who apparently 226 00:14:40,080 --> 00:14:43,600 Speaker 1: kept Bullard's name from being included. Yeah, there's a long 227 00:14:43,680 --> 00:14:47,560 Speaker 1: documented back and forth of Bullard trying to get his 228 00:14:47,680 --> 00:14:49,800 Speaker 1: name included with all the other names of the men 229 00:14:49,880 --> 00:14:53,680 Speaker 1: he had flown with. After the Great Depression started, the 230 00:14:53,760 --> 00:14:58,080 Speaker 1: Grand Duke started to struggle financially and eventually bullard sold it. 231 00:14:58,520 --> 00:15:01,200 Speaker 1: After that he opened a smile dollar bar which he 232 00:15:01,320 --> 00:15:05,160 Speaker 1: named the Les Gradule Club. It's a little weird to 233 00:15:05,240 --> 00:15:08,920 Speaker 1: have the and also the La Pastro from the French name. 234 00:15:09,040 --> 00:15:12,880 Speaker 1: That that's how I kept finding it referenced. Bullard also 235 00:15:12,920 --> 00:15:15,960 Speaker 1: started his own athletic club where he worked as a 236 00:15:15,960 --> 00:15:19,480 Speaker 1: massage therapist and a personal trainer. Some of the same 237 00:15:19,520 --> 00:15:22,080 Speaker 1: people who had played at the Grand Duke came to 238 00:15:22,120 --> 00:15:25,880 Speaker 1: the Athletic Club for exercise or relaxation, and it catered 239 00:15:25,920 --> 00:15:30,560 Speaker 1: to a range of well known Parisians and expatriates. Bullard 240 00:15:30,640 --> 00:15:35,560 Speaker 1: also arranged musical performances for various charities and philanthropic events, 241 00:15:35,640 --> 00:15:39,200 Speaker 1: including greeting American mothers whose sons had been killed in 242 00:15:39,240 --> 00:15:42,040 Speaker 1: action during the war when they arrived in France to 243 00:15:42,120 --> 00:15:46,280 Speaker 1: visit their graves or to attend memorials. In nineteen thirty 244 00:15:46,360 --> 00:15:49,800 Speaker 1: five Jean and Marcel divorced, and this is another place 245 00:15:49,840 --> 00:15:52,560 Speaker 1: where his account of their relationship doesn't really line up 246 00:15:52,560 --> 00:15:56,440 Speaker 1: with the historical record. He claimed that she inherited a 247 00:15:56,440 --> 00:15:58,920 Speaker 1: lot of money after her father's death and that she 248 00:15:59,000 --> 00:16:01,560 Speaker 1: wanted him to give up working so that they could 249 00:16:01,640 --> 00:16:04,800 Speaker 1: live in luxury. He did not want to be a 250 00:16:04,880 --> 00:16:08,520 Speaker 1: kept man and he refused, which ended their marriage. He 251 00:16:08,560 --> 00:16:11,360 Speaker 1: wrote it because they were both Catholic, they never officially 252 00:16:11,360 --> 00:16:14,920 Speaker 1: divorced and she died a few years later. They did 253 00:16:14,920 --> 00:16:19,960 Speaker 1: officially divorced, though. That divorce was finalized on December five 254 00:16:20,200 --> 00:16:23,800 Speaker 1: and unless her father had also inherited money from someone 255 00:16:24,000 --> 00:16:27,440 Speaker 1: else in the family or had some other money somewhere, 256 00:16:27,600 --> 00:16:31,160 Speaker 1: like his estate as a Grosser, would not really have 257 00:16:31,320 --> 00:16:34,360 Speaker 1: been enough to provide for a family to live the 258 00:16:34,440 --> 00:16:37,560 Speaker 1: rest of their lives without working, especially because bullard made 259 00:16:37,600 --> 00:16:39,560 Speaker 1: it sound like she kind of wanted them to be 260 00:16:39,640 --> 00:16:44,480 Speaker 1: high society people. Marcel also did not die shortly after 261 00:16:44,560 --> 00:16:48,280 Speaker 1: they split up. She lived until I feel like that's 262 00:16:48,320 --> 00:16:50,760 Speaker 1: the harshest burn ever to just tell people your ex 263 00:16:50,840 --> 00:16:54,520 Speaker 1: has passed. I'm sorry, Oh yeah, she's yead right here. 264 00:16:56,920 --> 00:16:58,600 Speaker 1: One of the things that's really distressing to me is. 265 00:16:58,640 --> 00:17:01,840 Speaker 1: It's not clear whether are his children knew that their 266 00:17:01,880 --> 00:17:04,439 Speaker 1: mother was still living. It's it's it's a little vague. 267 00:17:04,880 --> 00:17:08,119 Speaker 1: There is some speculation about why bullard would have fabricated 268 00:17:08,240 --> 00:17:13,560 Speaker 1: such easily verifiable details in his autobiography. It is possible 269 00:17:13,600 --> 00:17:15,720 Speaker 1: that he was trying to protect his daughters from some 270 00:17:15,840 --> 00:17:20,080 Speaker 1: kind of speculation or maybe unpleasant information about himself or 271 00:17:20,119 --> 00:17:24,280 Speaker 1: about their mother. He got custody after his daughters after 272 00:17:24,320 --> 00:17:26,640 Speaker 1: the divorce, at which point they were nine and twelve 273 00:17:26,800 --> 00:17:31,040 Speaker 1: and attending a convent boarding school. By the late nineteen thirties, 274 00:17:31,080 --> 00:17:36,200 Speaker 1: bullard's violent altercations with racists had expanded to including violent 275 00:17:36,240 --> 00:17:40,880 Speaker 1: altercations with Nazis. That might be more of a refinement 276 00:17:40,920 --> 00:17:44,280 Speaker 1: than an expansion, I don't know. One of them had 277 00:17:44,320 --> 00:17:48,200 Speaker 1: been a client at his athletic club. Bullard had twenty 278 00:17:48,200 --> 00:17:52,040 Speaker 1: one flags hanging in the gym that represented the nationalities 279 00:17:52,080 --> 00:17:54,639 Speaker 1: of all its various members, and this client wanted him 280 00:17:54,680 --> 00:17:59,720 Speaker 1: to add the Nazi flag. Bullard threw him out. He 281 00:18:00,040 --> 00:18:02,800 Speaker 1: so had at least one altercation with German men out 282 00:18:02,800 --> 00:18:07,560 Speaker 1: on the streets of Montmart eventually, Paris municipal detective George 283 00:18:07,640 --> 00:18:12,000 Speaker 1: La planquet approached Bullard about gathering information from Germans and 284 00:18:12,040 --> 00:18:15,919 Speaker 1: passing it to the French Military Intelligence Service, Le Diizzy 285 00:18:16,040 --> 00:18:19,600 Speaker 1: M bureau. Bullard knew German pretty well. He had started 286 00:18:19,600 --> 00:18:21,880 Speaker 1: to learn it aboard the Marta Ross when he originally 287 00:18:21,960 --> 00:18:25,360 Speaker 1: left the US for Europe. Bullard was assigned to work 288 00:18:25,400 --> 00:18:28,879 Speaker 1: with Cleopatra Terrier, also known as Kitty, who bullard had 289 00:18:28,880 --> 00:18:31,240 Speaker 1: seen around the bar and who he had assumed was 290 00:18:31,280 --> 00:18:34,720 Speaker 1: a sex worker. It turned out that she had started 291 00:18:34,720 --> 00:18:37,760 Speaker 1: actively spying on Germans in an attempt to avenge the 292 00:18:37,840 --> 00:18:41,240 Speaker 1: murder of her father by a German during World War One. 293 00:18:42,280 --> 00:18:45,879 Speaker 1: Bullard started eavesdropping on German patrons at the bar and 294 00:18:45,960 --> 00:18:50,240 Speaker 1: the athletic club and also striking up conversations with them. 295 00:18:50,359 --> 00:18:53,360 Speaker 1: Sometimes he and terrier worked together as a team at 296 00:18:53,400 --> 00:18:55,840 Speaker 1: the bar. She would flirt and he would sort of 297 00:18:55,880 --> 00:18:59,639 Speaker 1: play two stereotypes of black men as hapless or ignorant, 298 00:19:00,040 --> 00:19:02,480 Speaker 1: and then they would pass everything they had learned back 299 00:19:02,520 --> 00:19:07,000 Speaker 1: to the intelligence service. But other people noticed that Bullard 300 00:19:07,080 --> 00:19:10,040 Speaker 1: was suddenly spending a lot more time talking to Germans 301 00:19:10,119 --> 00:19:14,280 Speaker 1: and they grew suspicious of him. On July two nine, 302 00:19:14,320 --> 00:19:18,440 Speaker 1: he was shot in the abdomen by Justin Peretti. Peretti 303 00:19:18,520 --> 00:19:22,639 Speaker 1: was inebriated and thought that Bullard was spying for Germany, 304 00:19:23,080 --> 00:19:28,200 Speaker 1: not spying on Germans for France. Peretti also accidentally shot 305 00:19:28,280 --> 00:19:32,840 Speaker 1: himself during this attack. He survived. I think he accidentally 306 00:19:32,840 --> 00:19:39,560 Speaker 1: shot himself in the buttocks, as you do. So bullard 307 00:19:39,600 --> 00:19:43,480 Speaker 1: was immediately taken to the hospital and doctors initially did 308 00:19:43,480 --> 00:19:46,879 Speaker 1: not think he would live. He did live, though, and 309 00:19:46,960 --> 00:19:51,720 Speaker 1: he was released six days later. PERETTI's brothers apologized to 310 00:19:51,840 --> 00:19:55,159 Speaker 1: bullard on his behalf and they bribed him not to 311 00:19:55,240 --> 00:19:58,639 Speaker 1: press charges. They sort of framed this as wanting to 312 00:19:58,720 --> 00:20:01,240 Speaker 1: compensate him for the at that his bar had to 313 00:20:01,280 --> 00:20:04,000 Speaker 1: be closed. In the wake of all of this, it 314 00:20:04,080 --> 00:20:07,720 Speaker 1: does not appear that Peretti was ever charged with anything. 315 00:20:07,760 --> 00:20:09,800 Speaker 1: If he was, I was not able to find that out. 316 00:20:10,440 --> 00:20:14,520 Speaker 1: After Germany invaded Poland on September one, ninety nine people 317 00:20:14,560 --> 00:20:18,280 Speaker 1: started leaving Paris, especially Americans and others who were not 318 00:20:18,359 --> 00:20:20,880 Speaker 1: from France, and we're worried about whether they'd be able 319 00:20:20,920 --> 00:20:24,800 Speaker 1: to go home if they stayed. Bullard initially kept up 320 00:20:24,800 --> 00:20:27,800 Speaker 1: his spy work and kept Les Caudrille Open to feed 321 00:20:27,800 --> 00:20:32,200 Speaker 1: and entertain people, but eventually he had fewer and fewer patrons, 322 00:20:32,320 --> 00:20:35,239 Speaker 1: and mandatory blackouts caused him to have to close up 323 00:20:35,280 --> 00:20:38,840 Speaker 1: early every evening. He sold his car and he started 324 00:20:38,840 --> 00:20:41,239 Speaker 1: focusing on making sure his friends who couldn't get out 325 00:20:41,280 --> 00:20:44,320 Speaker 1: of Paris just had enough to eat. He would do 326 00:20:44,359 --> 00:20:46,400 Speaker 1: the shopping with a hand cart that he made, buying 327 00:20:46,440 --> 00:20:49,159 Speaker 1: whatever he could find an afford, and then the bar's 328 00:20:49,200 --> 00:20:51,239 Speaker 1: cook would make it into a stew to feed as 329 00:20:51,280 --> 00:20:54,600 Speaker 1: many people with it as possible. Once most of the 330 00:20:54,600 --> 00:20:57,439 Speaker 1: people that Bullard knew were safely out of Paris, he 331 00:20:57,520 --> 00:21:01,480 Speaker 1: closed up the bar and the athletic club. Wealthy American 332 00:21:01,520 --> 00:21:05,320 Speaker 1: woman named June juet James invited him and his daughters 333 00:21:05,400 --> 00:21:08,320 Speaker 1: to stay with her in new west of Paris, with 334 00:21:08,359 --> 00:21:12,879 Speaker 1: bullard working as her chauffeur and waiter. At one point 335 00:21:13,119 --> 00:21:17,440 Speaker 1: she was helping arrange a volunteer ambulance corps and hosted 336 00:21:17,520 --> 00:21:21,720 Speaker 1: a dinner for potential funders and organizers. One of its 337 00:21:21,720 --> 00:21:26,160 Speaker 1: guests was once again Dr Gross and, as we mentioned 338 00:21:26,200 --> 00:21:29,760 Speaker 1: in part one, he had helped organize the American ambulance 339 00:21:29,800 --> 00:21:33,840 Speaker 1: field service, probably why he was there. Bullard was wearing 340 00:21:33,880 --> 00:21:37,080 Speaker 1: his dress uniform during this dinner and gross had expressed 341 00:21:37,080 --> 00:21:40,760 Speaker 1: surprise that one of his medals was the Medai Milito, 342 00:21:41,160 --> 00:21:44,600 Speaker 1: which was awarded for acts of bravery against an enemy force. 343 00:21:45,560 --> 00:21:48,960 Speaker 1: Bullard responded, quote, Oh, I thought you kept all my records, 344 00:21:49,080 --> 00:21:51,760 Speaker 1: just as you kept the scroll issued me by the 345 00:21:51,760 --> 00:21:54,280 Speaker 1: French government, as it was to every member of the 346 00:21:54,280 --> 00:21:58,040 Speaker 1: Flying Squadron. And then Bullard walked away, and this was 347 00:21:58,080 --> 00:22:01,520 Speaker 1: the last time he and gross ever saw each other. Yeah, 348 00:22:01,560 --> 00:22:04,159 Speaker 1: that's a scroll we mentioned in part one that he 349 00:22:04,240 --> 00:22:06,359 Speaker 1: was supposed to get, and gross apparently never gave it 350 00:22:06,359 --> 00:22:10,960 Speaker 1: to him. Sometime after this dinner, the intelligence service called 351 00:22:11,000 --> 00:22:13,960 Speaker 1: Bullard back to Paris and he briefly tried to reopen 352 00:22:14,000 --> 00:22:17,000 Speaker 1: the bar, but soon after that he decided to try 353 00:22:17,040 --> 00:22:21,360 Speaker 1: to rejoin his old unit, the hundred and Seventie Infantry Regiment, 354 00:22:21,800 --> 00:22:24,200 Speaker 1: which he had heard was fighting about a hundred miles 355 00:22:24,240 --> 00:22:28,720 Speaker 1: east of Paris. Before he left, Kitty terrier promised him 356 00:22:28,760 --> 00:22:31,879 Speaker 1: that she would keep his children safe. He seems to 357 00:22:31,960 --> 00:22:35,560 Speaker 1: have really genuinely loved and doated on both of them. 358 00:22:35,680 --> 00:22:38,280 Speaker 1: We're going to talk about Eugene's efforts to serve in 359 00:22:38,320 --> 00:22:49,760 Speaker 1: World War Two after we have a quick sponsor break. 360 00:22:50,480 --> 00:22:53,800 Speaker 1: When Eugene Jock Bullard decided to try to rejoin the 361 00:22:53,840 --> 00:22:57,200 Speaker 1: French infantry. He was forty four and he spent day 362 00:22:57,240 --> 00:23:00,280 Speaker 1: is going all around France, mostly on foot, as he 363 00:23:00,320 --> 00:23:03,160 Speaker 1: tried to connect to the hundred and Seventieth Infantry, which 364 00:23:03,160 --> 00:23:06,040 Speaker 1: he had served in before, or really to just any 365 00:23:06,080 --> 00:23:09,320 Speaker 1: other units that he heard were fighting nearby. And what 366 00:23:09,480 --> 00:23:12,399 Speaker 1: he encountered on the way was horrific. There were huge 367 00:23:12,600 --> 00:23:16,600 Speaker 1: waves of starving refugees, villages that had been attacked and 368 00:23:16,680 --> 00:23:19,560 Speaker 1: at one point a child standing next to the badly 369 00:23:19,640 --> 00:23:25,200 Speaker 1: mutilated body of his mother. Bullard finally found a different unit, 370 00:23:25,240 --> 00:23:30,199 Speaker 1: the fifty first infantry, in Orleans on June fifteenth. The 371 00:23:30,280 --> 00:23:33,400 Speaker 1: major in command had also been an officer at Verdun, 372 00:23:33,560 --> 00:23:36,399 Speaker 1: where Bullard had fought during World War One, and he 373 00:23:36,480 --> 00:23:39,560 Speaker 1: accepted Bullard service and he assigned him to a machine 374 00:23:39,600 --> 00:23:44,680 Speaker 1: gun company. Just three days later, an artillery shell exploded, 375 00:23:44,960 --> 00:23:49,240 Speaker 1: killing eleven French soldiers and badly injuring Bullard, who was 376 00:23:49,320 --> 00:23:51,919 Speaker 1: the only one of the group that was near this 377 00:23:52,000 --> 00:23:56,120 Speaker 1: explosion to survive. The explosion threw him into a wall 378 00:23:56,200 --> 00:23:59,400 Speaker 1: and he lived only because he kind of glanced off 379 00:23:59,440 --> 00:24:02,000 Speaker 1: the wall at a angle rather than being thrown directly 380 00:24:02,080 --> 00:24:06,680 Speaker 1: into it. But one of his vertebrae was fractured. Bullard 381 00:24:06,720 --> 00:24:08,879 Speaker 1: did not want to give up at this point, but 382 00:24:09,160 --> 00:24:12,800 Speaker 1: his commanding officer was worried about his safety. Beyond that 383 00:24:12,880 --> 00:24:16,879 Speaker 1: of other soldiers, Bullard was a black man. He was 384 00:24:16,960 --> 00:24:20,280 Speaker 1: a widely known hero from the First World War. He 385 00:24:20,320 --> 00:24:25,280 Speaker 1: had been working in intelligence. There were understandable concerns about 386 00:24:25,320 --> 00:24:28,000 Speaker 1: what would happen to him if the Nazis captured him 387 00:24:28,119 --> 00:24:31,199 Speaker 1: and how news of his capture could affect the morale 388 00:24:31,280 --> 00:24:34,679 Speaker 1: of other soldiers. So bullard was ordered to get to 389 00:24:34,800 --> 00:24:37,240 Speaker 1: Spain and from there to go to the United States. 390 00:24:38,040 --> 00:24:42,080 Speaker 1: Bullard spent a whole day on foot, at first using 391 00:24:42,160 --> 00:24:44,639 Speaker 1: his rifle as a crutch and then abandoning that for 392 00:24:44,720 --> 00:24:47,880 Speaker 1: a stick because he thought that the rifle might seem threatening. 393 00:24:48,600 --> 00:24:51,199 Speaker 1: He got to a military hospital, which treated him as 394 00:24:51,240 --> 00:24:53,399 Speaker 1: best they could and wrapped his bag to try to 395 00:24:53,440 --> 00:24:56,840 Speaker 1: stabilize it. As he continued south. He got to be 396 00:24:56,920 --> 00:24:59,720 Speaker 1: a Ritz not far from the Spanish border on June twenty. 397 00:25:00,040 --> 00:25:04,720 Speaker 1: It four days after being injured. When bullard had left 398 00:25:04,720 --> 00:25:08,800 Speaker 1: the United States. Almost three decades before, passports were not 399 00:25:08,920 --> 00:25:12,280 Speaker 1: required for travel around Europe and most people just didn't 400 00:25:12,320 --> 00:25:15,520 Speaker 1: have them. Although bullard had toured around a lot of 401 00:25:15,560 --> 00:25:17,919 Speaker 1: Europe when he was a boxer. He had not gotten 402 00:25:18,000 --> 00:25:20,679 Speaker 1: one at that point either, so when he tried to 403 00:25:20,680 --> 00:25:23,280 Speaker 1: get passage to the United States, he had to try 404 00:25:23,320 --> 00:25:27,040 Speaker 1: to prove who he really was. The console that beer 405 00:25:27,119 --> 00:25:31,240 Speaker 1: it's questioned him and other people who knew him who 406 00:25:31,359 --> 00:25:33,879 Speaker 1: happened to be passing through beerits as they tried to 407 00:25:33,880 --> 00:25:36,240 Speaker 1: get out of Europe as well. So people were vouching 408 00:25:36,240 --> 00:25:39,360 Speaker 1: for him and it was established that he was who 409 00:25:39,520 --> 00:25:41,919 Speaker 1: said he was, that he really was from the United States. 410 00:25:41,920 --> 00:25:45,760 Speaker 1: He was finally approved for us passport, but then he 411 00:25:45,800 --> 00:25:49,000 Speaker 1: had to go back to Bordeaux to get it. Bullard 412 00:25:49,080 --> 00:25:51,520 Speaker 1: was afraid of what would happen to his belongings if 413 00:25:51,560 --> 00:25:54,720 Speaker 1: he was captured, so he left everything but the clothes 414 00:25:54,760 --> 00:25:59,120 Speaker 1: he was wearing behind. American aviator R C Guarts, known 415 00:25:59,160 --> 00:26:02,160 Speaker 1: as Craney, had also flown for France during World War One, 416 00:26:02,600 --> 00:26:06,040 Speaker 1: shipped Bullard's belongings to the US for him care of 417 00:26:06,119 --> 00:26:08,720 Speaker 1: Roger Baldwin at the A C L U offices in 418 00:26:08,800 --> 00:26:13,560 Speaker 1: New York. Bullard went to Bordeaux, roughly one miles away 419 00:26:13,600 --> 00:26:17,879 Speaker 1: by bicycle and then returned. His friend Charlie Levy was 420 00:26:17,920 --> 00:26:21,119 Speaker 1: carrying refugees out of France across the Spanish border in 421 00:26:21,160 --> 00:26:25,200 Speaker 1: an ambulance, and Bullard got a ride with him. Eugene 422 00:26:25,240 --> 00:26:28,479 Speaker 1: Jacques Bullard finally got to Spain on July second nineteen 423 00:26:28,560 --> 00:26:31,919 Speaker 1: forty and departed for the US ten days later. He 424 00:26:32,040 --> 00:26:35,760 Speaker 1: arrived in New York harbor on July eight. Rooms had 425 00:26:35,760 --> 00:26:38,640 Speaker 1: been arranged for all the American veterans of World War 426 00:26:38,680 --> 00:26:41,240 Speaker 1: One who were on the ship with him, but not 427 00:26:41,440 --> 00:26:44,119 Speaker 1: for him, who was the only black veteran on board. 428 00:26:44,880 --> 00:26:47,040 Speaker 1: He was able to stay with an acquaintance he had 429 00:26:47,080 --> 00:26:49,240 Speaker 1: known in Paris who had an apartment in New York, 430 00:26:49,440 --> 00:26:51,199 Speaker 1: and to pick up all of his stuff from the 431 00:26:51,200 --> 00:26:53,359 Speaker 1: A C L U office where it had been sent. 432 00:26:53,440 --> 00:26:57,359 Speaker 1: Once it got there, bullard eventually moved into the predominantly 433 00:26:57,400 --> 00:27:00,560 Speaker 1: Puerto Rican neighborhood of Spanish Harlem and he lived there 434 00:27:00,560 --> 00:27:03,000 Speaker 1: for the rest of his life. But he also spent 435 00:27:03,040 --> 00:27:05,080 Speaker 1: a lot of time in Lower Manhattan, which had a 436 00:27:05,160 --> 00:27:09,720 Speaker 1: large French community. Among other things, bullard attended mass there, 437 00:27:09,840 --> 00:27:12,439 Speaker 1: along with meetings of the Federation of French veterans of 438 00:27:12,480 --> 00:27:15,960 Speaker 1: the Great War. He also received treatment for his spinal 439 00:27:16,040 --> 00:27:19,800 Speaker 1: injury at a French hospital. After arriving in the US, 440 00:27:19,880 --> 00:27:23,680 Speaker 1: Bullard also immediately started trying to get his daughters out 441 00:27:23,720 --> 00:27:27,040 Speaker 1: of France. He worked with the Consulate and with William 442 00:27:27,080 --> 00:27:30,320 Speaker 1: C bullet, who bullard had met while bullet was in 443 00:27:30,400 --> 00:27:35,000 Speaker 1: Paris serving as ambassador to France. His daughters were also 444 00:27:35,119 --> 00:27:38,119 Speaker 1: evacuated from France to Spain and they arrived in the 445 00:27:38,200 --> 00:27:43,120 Speaker 1: United States on February three nine. Bullard tried to make 446 00:27:43,240 --> 00:27:45,879 Speaker 1: ends meet through an assortment of odd jobs, starting with 447 00:27:45,960 --> 00:27:48,760 Speaker 1: being a security guard. He also spent a lot of 448 00:27:48,800 --> 00:27:51,719 Speaker 1: his time working with the France called MEM or France forever, 449 00:27:51,840 --> 00:27:54,600 Speaker 1: which was the international arm of the Free France Movement. 450 00:27:55,480 --> 00:27:58,399 Speaker 1: The Free France Movement supported Charles de Gaulle and the 451 00:27:58,400 --> 00:28:02,000 Speaker 1: French government in exile in London, as well as French 452 00:28:02,040 --> 00:28:06,800 Speaker 1: resistance efforts. Super Quick Recap here. After Germany defeated France, 453 00:28:07,080 --> 00:28:10,080 Speaker 1: the French third republic was dissolved. In the French state 454 00:28:10,119 --> 00:28:13,239 Speaker 1: that was established in its place was primarily run from 455 00:28:13,240 --> 00:28:16,760 Speaker 1: the spot town of vichy. The vichy regime collaborated with 456 00:28:16,800 --> 00:28:20,080 Speaker 1: the Nazis, while the free France movement continued to fight back. 457 00:28:21,040 --> 00:28:24,879 Speaker 1: Bullard's work with free France included trying to recruit black 458 00:28:24,960 --> 00:28:28,760 Speaker 1: pilots and airplane mechanics to serve in the free French forces. 459 00:28:29,440 --> 00:28:32,639 Speaker 1: At this point, the US was already recruiting black people 460 00:28:32,800 --> 00:28:36,840 Speaker 1: into the military, including pilots. The tuskegee airmen had been 461 00:28:36,960 --> 00:28:41,680 Speaker 1: established that January. Bullard's thoughts aren't this aren't documented anywhere, 462 00:28:41,720 --> 00:28:44,640 Speaker 1: but presumably he thought black people should have the opportunity 463 00:28:44,680 --> 00:28:47,520 Speaker 1: to fight for France as part of an integrated unit, 464 00:28:47,600 --> 00:28:50,800 Speaker 1: as he had done, rather than fighting for the US 465 00:28:50,840 --> 00:28:53,480 Speaker 1: and a segregated one. We've also talked in some of 466 00:28:53,480 --> 00:28:56,960 Speaker 1: our episodes about the military service of black people during 467 00:28:56,960 --> 00:28:58,960 Speaker 1: this time, of the idea that people were fighting for 468 00:28:59,040 --> 00:29:02,000 Speaker 1: a country that was not reading them as equal citizens, 469 00:29:02,040 --> 00:29:05,080 Speaker 1: and Bullard may have been motivated by the idea that 470 00:29:05,720 --> 00:29:08,640 Speaker 1: there was more equality in France and his experience than 471 00:29:08,680 --> 00:29:12,640 Speaker 1: in the United States. Bullard also traveled around the US, 472 00:29:12,800 --> 00:29:15,520 Speaker 1: visiting family members he had not seen in decades and 473 00:29:15,720 --> 00:29:19,400 Speaker 1: introducing them to his daughters. This included making a trip 474 00:29:19,440 --> 00:29:23,880 Speaker 1: to Columbus, Georgia in nineteen six, and he was continually 475 00:29:23,960 --> 00:29:26,960 Speaker 1: confronted with how different the US was than the way 476 00:29:26,960 --> 00:29:29,800 Speaker 1: he had lived in Paris. He was invited to a 477 00:29:29,880 --> 00:29:32,680 Speaker 1: dinner honoring members of the French Foreign Legion in Nineteen 478 00:29:32,720 --> 00:29:36,239 Speaker 1: forty two, but he got an anonymous letter warning him 479 00:29:36,320 --> 00:29:39,560 Speaker 1: not to come because, quote, in the states, white and 480 00:29:39,640 --> 00:29:43,720 Speaker 1: colored don't mix at social functions. During the peak skill 481 00:29:43,880 --> 00:29:46,760 Speaker 1: riots in nineteen forty nine, someone spit on him and 482 00:29:46,840 --> 00:29:50,040 Speaker 1: he spit back, leading to his being beaten by a 483 00:29:50,080 --> 00:29:53,080 Speaker 1: police officer and losing most of the site in one 484 00:29:53,120 --> 00:29:56,320 Speaker 1: of his eyes. While leaving peak skill, he had an 485 00:29:56,320 --> 00:29:58,720 Speaker 1: altercation with a bus driver who tried to make him 486 00:29:58,720 --> 00:30:02,520 Speaker 1: sit in the back. You can expect a future episode 487 00:30:02,560 --> 00:30:04,680 Speaker 1: on the peak skill riots, because that is a whole 488 00:30:04,680 --> 00:30:07,959 Speaker 1: other story certainly worthy of talking about. Yeah, it's been 489 00:30:08,000 --> 00:30:09,800 Speaker 1: on my list forever and I was like, well, this 490 00:30:09,840 --> 00:30:12,560 Speaker 1: seems like a good reason to bump it up to 491 00:30:12,600 --> 00:30:17,479 Speaker 1: the top. Here's the transition. Boy Bullard also made some 492 00:30:17,520 --> 00:30:19,880 Speaker 1: trips back to Europe, but he did not think it 493 00:30:20,000 --> 00:30:23,320 Speaker 1: was possible to move back there. The building that had 494 00:30:23,360 --> 00:30:27,200 Speaker 1: housed les caudrill burned down during the war. He didn't 495 00:30:27,240 --> 00:30:30,960 Speaker 1: receive any kind of compensation for it. He did continue 496 00:30:31,040 --> 00:30:34,800 Speaker 1: to be honored for his service, though. In nineteen fifty four, 497 00:30:34,920 --> 00:30:38,960 Speaker 1: France brought him back for a Bastille Day observation. He 498 00:30:39,080 --> 00:30:41,080 Speaker 1: was one of the three men who was part of 499 00:30:41,160 --> 00:30:44,160 Speaker 1: re lighting the flame at the tomb of the unknown soldier. 500 00:30:44,200 --> 00:30:46,280 Speaker 1: There are actually some pictures of him like laying a 501 00:30:46,320 --> 00:30:50,640 Speaker 1: wreath of flowers there on October nine of nineteen fifty nine. 502 00:30:50,680 --> 00:30:53,560 Speaker 1: He was also made a night in the French Legion 503 00:30:53,600 --> 00:30:55,960 Speaker 1: of Honor at a ceremony that took place in the 504 00:30:55,960 --> 00:30:59,160 Speaker 1: French consulate in New York. That happened on his sixty 505 00:30:59,160 --> 00:31:02,600 Speaker 1: four birthday. Toward the end of his life, bullard started 506 00:31:02,640 --> 00:31:06,400 Speaker 1: working on an autobiography called all blood runs red, although 507 00:31:06,440 --> 00:31:09,720 Speaker 1: it was never published. He worked with an assistant, Louise 508 00:31:09,800 --> 00:31:12,240 Speaker 1: Fox Connell, because he didn't think he could write well 509 00:31:12,360 --> 00:31:15,760 Speaker 1: enough in English. Just a note that there is also 510 00:31:15,840 --> 00:31:19,200 Speaker 1: a biography by that same title. That is a different work, 511 00:31:19,240 --> 00:31:23,200 Speaker 1: although the nineteen seventy two biography titled the black swallow 512 00:31:23,280 --> 00:31:26,600 Speaker 1: of death quotes from that one extensively. Yeah, if you 513 00:31:26,640 --> 00:31:28,600 Speaker 1: go buy a copy of a book titled All Blood 514 00:31:28,640 --> 00:31:32,880 Speaker 1: Runs Red, it's going to be a different thing. Um. 515 00:31:32,920 --> 00:31:35,640 Speaker 1: There are still copies of it in archives though it exists. 516 00:31:35,640 --> 00:31:39,000 Speaker 1: It was just never published. In nineteen fifty nine, Eleanor 517 00:31:39,080 --> 00:31:42,800 Speaker 1: Roosevelt wrote about Bullard and her column my day. That 518 00:31:42,920 --> 00:31:46,080 Speaker 1: was after Louise Fox Connell had sent her some clippings 519 00:31:46,160 --> 00:31:48,440 Speaker 1: about Bullard to sort of try to work up some 520 00:31:48,520 --> 00:31:53,240 Speaker 1: advanced publicity about their memoir and progress. At that point 521 00:31:53,360 --> 00:31:57,320 Speaker 1: Bullard was working as an elevator operator at Rockefeller Center. 522 00:31:58,280 --> 00:32:01,760 Speaker 1: Somebody made the connection that the Black Elevator operator at 523 00:32:01,800 --> 00:32:05,720 Speaker 1: Rockefeller Center who wore French military medals on his uniform 524 00:32:05,880 --> 00:32:08,920 Speaker 1: was the same person that Eleanor Roosevelt had written about 525 00:32:08,960 --> 00:32:11,640 Speaker 1: in her column. After that he was invited to be 526 00:32:11,720 --> 00:32:15,200 Speaker 1: on the today show that aired on December of nineteen 527 00:32:15,240 --> 00:32:19,400 Speaker 1: fifty nine. In nineteen sixty, French President Charles de Gaul 528 00:32:19,840 --> 00:32:22,960 Speaker 1: visited New York and Bullard was invited to meet him. 529 00:32:23,000 --> 00:32:24,840 Speaker 1: He was a v I p guest and a member 530 00:32:24,840 --> 00:32:28,640 Speaker 1: of degall's honor guard. On October twelfth nineteen sixty one, 531 00:32:28,880 --> 00:32:32,120 Speaker 1: Eugene Jacques Bullard died of intestinal cancer in New York 532 00:32:32,160 --> 00:32:34,680 Speaker 1: at the age of sixty six. He was buried at 533 00:32:34,720 --> 00:32:38,360 Speaker 1: the Federation of French War Veterans Cemetery and Flushing New York, 534 00:32:38,680 --> 00:32:43,400 Speaker 1: wearing his French military uniform. In nine four the US 535 00:32:43,480 --> 00:32:47,800 Speaker 1: air force posthumously promoted him to second lieutenant, a rank 536 00:32:47,840 --> 00:32:49,760 Speaker 1: that would have allowed him to fly for the US 537 00:32:49,840 --> 00:32:52,440 Speaker 1: had it been allowing black pilots in World War One. 538 00:32:53,120 --> 00:32:56,720 Speaker 1: On October nine nineteen, a statue of Bullard was unveiled 539 00:32:56,760 --> 00:32:59,520 Speaker 1: at the Museum of Aviation at Warner Robbins Air Force 540 00:32:59,560 --> 00:33:02,840 Speaker 1: Base in Georgia. There is also a bust of him 541 00:33:02,880 --> 00:33:06,760 Speaker 1: in the collection of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. 542 00:33:06,840 --> 00:33:09,239 Speaker 1: I'm glad I finally got to do the episode on Him, 543 00:33:09,280 --> 00:33:12,120 Speaker 1: and I'm also glad I waited a while to do 544 00:33:12,200 --> 00:33:15,920 Speaker 1: it because there was definitely way more information available than 545 00:33:15,960 --> 00:33:19,080 Speaker 1: back in like Sten Ish, when people started sending us 546 00:33:19,080 --> 00:33:21,600 Speaker 1: the viral facebook post sing you should do an episode 547 00:33:21,600 --> 00:33:25,200 Speaker 1: on this guy. Yeah, uh, do you have some listener 548 00:33:25,240 --> 00:33:28,440 Speaker 1: mail for us? I do. It's a listener tweet. This 549 00:33:28,480 --> 00:33:31,520 Speaker 1: tweet came from Susie, who said Hey, at mimst in 550 00:33:31,720 --> 00:33:35,920 Speaker 1: history and at one hundred nine nine native, you both 551 00:33:35,960 --> 00:33:39,360 Speaker 1: covered the lowry war this week. Love when two of 552 00:33:39,400 --> 00:33:44,840 Speaker 1: my faves overlap. And then uh, Smiley faced with hearts emoji. Um, 553 00:33:45,040 --> 00:33:47,960 Speaker 1: native American calling, which is who has the twitter handle 554 00:33:48,080 --> 00:33:51,960 Speaker 1: one native quote. tweeted that and said happy coincidence. Missed 555 00:33:51,960 --> 00:33:56,880 Speaker 1: in history. Let's coordinate next time. So total random coincidence. 556 00:33:57,560 --> 00:34:00,200 Speaker 1: We talked about the lowry war during the same week 557 00:34:00,240 --> 00:34:03,840 Speaker 1: as native America calling did uh an episode that was 558 00:34:03,920 --> 00:34:11,680 Speaker 1: about multiple different indigenous outlaws. I super recommend going and 559 00:34:11,760 --> 00:34:15,040 Speaker 1: listening to this episode. Number One. Native America calling is 560 00:34:15,280 --> 00:34:18,759 Speaker 1: a show that airs live on the radio, so it's 561 00:34:18,800 --> 00:34:20,880 Speaker 1: one of those things where there's like very clear specific 562 00:34:20,920 --> 00:34:23,120 Speaker 1: times that you have to do the ad breaks. So 563 00:34:23,200 --> 00:34:24,839 Speaker 1: if you're listening to it and you're like, why did 564 00:34:24,840 --> 00:34:27,600 Speaker 1: they cut that person off, that's why that was an ad. 565 00:34:27,719 --> 00:34:30,880 Speaker 1: was going to go there. Number One, uh. It starts 566 00:34:30,920 --> 00:34:34,200 Speaker 1: with news updates that are related to indigenous people in 567 00:34:34,239 --> 00:34:37,200 Speaker 1: the US and if you are not up to speed 568 00:34:37,280 --> 00:34:40,960 Speaker 1: on various social and news issues that affect the indigenous 569 00:34:40,960 --> 00:34:44,040 Speaker 1: community like that is a minute to get a glimpse 570 00:34:44,080 --> 00:34:49,239 Speaker 1: of that. Uh. And then they talked to multiple different people, um, 571 00:34:49,280 --> 00:34:56,880 Speaker 1: about indigenous outlaws related to their specific indigenous tribe or nation. Um. 572 00:34:56,920 --> 00:34:59,880 Speaker 1: I super recommend it because you're hearing directly from people 573 00:35:00,080 --> 00:35:05,480 Speaker 1: about their own UH indigenous heritage. The person who talks 574 00:35:05,600 --> 00:35:11,360 Speaker 1: about the LOWRY WAR UH is nancy fields. Nancy fields 575 00:35:11,400 --> 00:35:13,719 Speaker 1: is actually one of the people I had seen on 576 00:35:13,760 --> 00:35:17,040 Speaker 1: a panel Um, that was by the North Carolina Museum 577 00:35:17,040 --> 00:35:18,840 Speaker 1: of history. That was part of the research for the 578 00:35:18,920 --> 00:35:23,400 Speaker 1: lowry war episode. So in addition to talking to Nancy fields, 579 00:35:23,440 --> 00:35:26,040 Speaker 1: the host of that episode, Seawan Spruce, talks to some 580 00:35:26,120 --> 00:35:29,880 Speaker 1: other indigenous elders about people from their own tribe, nations, 581 00:35:30,280 --> 00:35:33,920 Speaker 1: uh past. So I downloaded that as soon as I 582 00:35:33,960 --> 00:35:35,759 Speaker 1: got this and I listened to it again. It is 583 00:35:35,800 --> 00:35:39,120 Speaker 1: a radio show that it also comes out as a podcast, 584 00:35:39,160 --> 00:35:42,000 Speaker 1: which you can find, I imagine, in any podcast APP. 585 00:35:42,080 --> 00:35:44,359 Speaker 1: I founded an apple podcast and they're also at native 586 00:35:44,400 --> 00:35:49,279 Speaker 1: America calling dot Com. Um. So thank you so much 587 00:35:50,280 --> 00:35:53,040 Speaker 1: for to Susie for drawing our attention to the fact 588 00:35:53,040 --> 00:35:56,120 Speaker 1: that we had this weird, totally random coincidence with a 589 00:35:56,160 --> 00:35:59,720 Speaker 1: completely different show about the same subject. That does happen 590 00:35:59,760 --> 00:36:03,120 Speaker 1: from farm to time, UM, and I'm glad I got 591 00:36:03,160 --> 00:36:06,319 Speaker 1: the chance to listen to that myself as well. If 592 00:36:06,320 --> 00:36:07,919 Speaker 1: you'd like to write to us about this or any 593 00:36:07,920 --> 00:36:11,160 Speaker 1: other podcast, where at history podcast, at I heart radio 594 00:36:11,239 --> 00:36:13,680 Speaker 1: DOT com. And you'll also find us all over social 595 00:36:13,680 --> 00:36:16,040 Speaker 1: media at miss in history. That's where you'll find our facebook, twitter, 596 00:36:16,080 --> 00:36:19,640 Speaker 1: pinterest and instagram. And you can't subscribe to our show 597 00:36:19,920 --> 00:36:22,120 Speaker 1: on the I heart radio APP or wherever else you 598 00:36:22,239 --> 00:36:29,640 Speaker 1: like to get your podcasts. Stuff you missed in history 599 00:36:29,640 --> 00:36:32,399 Speaker 1: class is a production of I heart radio. For more 600 00:36:32,440 --> 00:36:35,479 Speaker 1: podcasts from I heart radio, visit the IHEART radio APP, 601 00:36:35,560 --> 00:36:38,760 Speaker 1: apple podcasts or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.