#bullards

[maypoleman1]

13th November

Stamford Bull Running

Source: The Lincolnite website

On this day the Stamford Bull Running once took place. Until this exercise in animal cruelty and danger to human life was banned in 1839, every 13th November a bull was hounded through the streets of Stamford in Lincolnshire by the bullards, drivers who risked life, limb and being covered in bull dung by eventually forcing the enraged animal off the bridge and into the River Welland where it usually drowned, before it was hauled out and butchered for a mass collective night feast. The ritual originally began, tradition has it, when William the Earl of Warren observed two rogue bulls devastating his lands and hired local butchers to chase them down, during which one of the animals stampeded through Stamford. There may be truth in this tale, but the event’s accompanying folk songs and the general orgiastic glee on display at the Stamford Bull Run, hint at a darker origin in Martinmas pagan bull sacrifice. The general feel of primitive license and excess associated with the Run was summed up by a bullard’s speech in which he insisted:

‘On this day there is no King in Stamford, we are every one of us high and mighty… a Lord Paramount, a Lord of Misrule, a King of Stamford… We are punishable for no crime but murder, and that only of our own and no other species.’

No mercy for the bull, then.

[catsofyore]

“Parlor Ornament”. Postcard from my collection, 1906.

[phantomladyoverparis]

A Dream Is What You Wake Up From (1978), dir. Larry Bullard & Carolyn Y. Johnson

[dailyhistoryposts]

Eugene Bullard

Eugene Bullard (1895-1961) was one of the few Black pilots active in World War I.

One of ten children born in Columbus, Georgia, Bullard grew up in a fiercely and violently racist post-Civil War South. He ran away from home to Europe, first to the UK where he boxed and performed slapstick comedy, and then to Paris, where he became a jazz musician.

When World War I broke out, Bullard enlisted and joined the Foreign Legion, serving as a gunner in several important battles over half a year until he was severely wounded at the Battle of Verdun. While recuperating, he learned to fly on a bet and afterward became an air gunner. In the French Air Force, he flew in over 20 combat missions and was promoted to corporal. When the United States entered the war, they had all White men flying in French forces join America's air force, but Bullard was left behind due to his race.

After the war, Bullard was awarded several French military medals, owned several popular nightclubs in Montmartre, and traveled to Egypt. When World War II started, Bullard spied for the French government on his nightclub patrons, because he spoke German as well as English and French. He also fought in World War II, defending Orléans from Nazi invasion, but was wounded again and escaped to America.

Back in America, Bullard was once again the victim of racist state-sanctioned violence and did not have the same fame and success he had enjoyed in the more progressive Paris.

33 years after his death, Eugene Bullard was posthumously commissioned a second lieutenant in the United States Air Force, making right the segregation that had kept him from serving his own country his whole life.

[midsomercaps]

Midsomer Murders, season 13 - Fit for Murder

[epellucid]

via

[oldshowbiz]

The Comedy Network

[nils-elmark]

First African American in the Great War

Brave men and women from my new book

The young man on the drawing is Bob Scanlon. He was the very first African American, who joined the First World War where he showed extreme bravery. Here, he is drawn by a fellow-volunteer, the artist John Jocob Casey who like Scanlon 'for the duration of the war' joined The French Foreign Legion in Paris on 25 August 1914.

Bob Scanlon - whose real non-artistic name was Bob Lewis - was a talented boxer from Mobile in Alabama and came to Europe in 1907. Most of his boxing career was in France, where he amongst others sparred with the legenday Jack Johnson.

'Jack' Casey was an illustrator and artist from San Francisco. He had studied at the Mark Hopkins Department of Fine Arts of the University of California, the Art Students' League in New York, the Boston Museum and the New York School of Fine Arts. He had frequently exhibited his paintings with success at expositions in America and in Paris at the Salon des Artistes Francais.

Casey was wounded at the Battle of Champagne in 1915 and ended drawing maps for the French Army, and Scanlon  - who otherwise was considered to be born under a lucky star - was wounded at Verdun in 1916 when his famous left hand was hit by a shell case. But they both survived the war.

Bob Scanlon plays a key role in my book: Fighting for the French Foreign Legion.

[earlymidsomermurders]

I love when George gets to have fun and make the sergeants uncomfortable 😂

I love George!!! look at him he just broke out some freshly post-mortemed liver and kidneys. he loves his job he's so happy, meanwhile Jones

[newyorkthegoldenage]

General Robert Lee Bullard is made a blood brother of the Arapahoe tribe, March 15, 1924. The ceremony was held on Governors Island.

Photo: Bettmann Archive/Getty Images/Fine Art America

[philleegirl]

Rewatching all the Midsomer Murders in order for about the 12th time and have come to the slightly insane conclusion that the Barnabys and Bullards were a polycule. Probably started with Cathy and Joyce when George and Tom were busy with murders and they talked the boys into joining in.

If I was in the Midsomer fandom, I am sure this theory would get me kicked out.

[phantomladyoverparis]

A Dream Is What You Wake Up From (1978), dir. Larry Bullard & Carolyn Y. Johnson

[hollyweirdangeleno]

[upthelagan]

Midsomer Murders. Death in Chorus.

[millesaniclaim]

bayou nwa. introduction to balloon aeronautics

[womenofwrestlingfashion]

3-Rib S61 Cap Style Safety Hard Hat from Bullard ($26.60 via Amazon), Suns Out Onesie in Black from Alo ($128), Oizen Long Sleeve Thorn Proof Garden Gloves ($13.99), Dib Safety Reflective Vest ($13.99) from Amazon & Knee High Boots from Cape Robbin ($69.90 via Amazon)