This is the complete biography of the first African American fighter pilot, Georgia native Eugene J. Bullard (1895-1961). An accomplished professional boxer, musician, club manager, and impresario of Parisian nightlife between the World Wars, Bullard found in Europe a degree of respect and freedom unknown to blacks in America. There, for twenty-five years, he helped define the expatriate experience for countless other African American artists, writers, performers, and athletes. Craig Lloyd recounts Bullard’s life from his boyhood in Jim Crow - era Georgia and his vagabond journey to Europe through his varied careers in France and his final years in New York.
Eugene Bullard, Black Expatriate in Jazz-Age Paris
offers a fascinating look at an extraordinary man who lived on his own terms.