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The son of an ex-slave, Gene Bullard ran away from his home in Georgia to France, where he had been told racial prejudice was non-existent. He had a promising future as a boxer but joined the French Foreign Legion when World War I broke out. With two serious wounds during two years of trench warfare, he received medals for his bravery, and became the first black man to become a fighter pilot. Between the wars, he owned two world-class jazz clubs in Paris, and when the Nazis invaded in 1939, he spied for the Resistance, and signed up to fight again. Wounded, he was spirited out of France, back to America where he lobbied for French causes, the American Legion, and Civil Rights. His story sounds fantastical, but all of it is true. Co-Sponsored with the Rogers Memorial Library.