About the Artwork
This original oil painting, "American Hero," honors Eugene Jacques Bullard, the first Black American fighter pilot. Glenn Beck uses rich colors and expressive brushwork to celebrate Bullard's legacy of courage, perseverance and aviation history.

Story & Inspiration
Eugene Bullard was born in 1895 in Columbus, Georgia. Facing racism and violence, he ran away to seek a better life overseas. He worked as a boxer and entertainer in London, learned to fly, and when World War I broke out he joined the French Foreign Legion. Bullard flew more than twenty combat missions and earned the nickname "Black Sparrow of Death." During World War II he served as a spy, and later he ran a nightclub in Paris that hosted cultural icons like F. Scott Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong and Ernest Hemingway. After returning to the United States he worked as an elevator operator at Rockefeller Center. Bullard was belatedly recognized for his service when French President Charles de Gaulle invited him to light the flame at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, and in 1994 the U.S. Army posthumously commissioned him as a second lieutenant. Glenn Beck was inspired by Bullard's determination and grit and created this artwork to honor his story.