Editing Hubert Julian

{{Short description|American aviator}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2020}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name                = Hubert Fauntleroy Julian
| birth_date          = {{birth date|1897|09|20|df=y}}
| birth_place         = [[Port of Spain]], [[Trinidad]]
| death_date          = {{death date and age|1983|02|19|1897|09|20|df=y}}
| image               = Djocja. Kolonel Julian, Bestanddeelnr 509-3-2.jpg
| death_place         = [[New York City]], New York, U.S.

| allegiance          = {{flag|Ethiopian Empire}}
| unit                = [[Arbegnoch]]
| rank                = [[Colonel]]
| serviceyears        = 1935–1941
| battles             = [[Second Italo-Ethiopian War]]
}}

'''Hubert Fauntleroy Julian''' (21 September 1897 – 19 February 1983) was a [[Trinidad]]-born American [[aviation]] pioneer. He was nicknamed "'''[[List of military figures by nickname|the Black Eagle]]'''".<ref>{{Cite web |title=Hubert Julian, Aviation Pioneer born |url=https://aaregistry.org/story/hubert-julian-the-black-eagle/ |access-date=2022-11-19 |website=African American Registry |language=en}}</ref>

==Early years==
Hubert Fauntleroy Julian was born in [[Port of Spain]], Trinidad, in 1897. His father, Henry, was a cocoa plantation manager in [[Toco]]. Julian caught his first glimpse of an airplane on 3 January 1913, when [[Boland brothers|Frank Boland]] performed an exhibition flight, ultimately crashing and dying. The shock of the crash stayed with Julian who, after [[World War I]], left his island home for [[Canada]]. There, in November 1920, he flew for the first time during a joyride with Canadian flying ace [[Billy Bishop]]. Shortly after this he designed and patented what was labeled an "Aeroplane Safety Appliance."<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://amsterdamnews.com/news/2014/oct/23/intrepid-black-eagle-hubert-julian/|title=The Intrepid 'Black Eagle,' Hubert Julian}}</ref>

==1920s==
In 1921, Julian left [[Montreal]] for good and moved to [[Harlem]]. Once there he came under the influence of the charismatic [[Marcus Garvey]] and joined the [[Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League|Universal Negro Improvement Association]]. This new "Garveyvite" soon adopted a new persona, rechristening himself "Lieutenant Hubert Julian" of the [[Royal Canadian Air Force]]. Julian had a tailor fashion for him a fake military uniform in order to push his new narrative. On 3 September 1922, Julian performed his first parachute jump at [[Roosevelt Field (airport)|Curtiss Field]] on [[Long Island]]; the event was headlined with a flight by [[Bessie Coleman]]. Julian would make one more jump that year before teaming up with aviator [[Clarence Chamberlin]] who, in addition to teaching his new business partner how to truly handle an airplane, flew him up above Harlem where the Trinidadian parachuted several times, the most famous moment coming when he wore a crimson jumpsuit while playing "[[Runnin' Wild (1922 song)|Runnin' Wild]]" on a saxophone. This would be the stunt which caused [[H. Allen Smith]] to dub Julian "the Black Eagle of Harlem". Julian also parachuted over Harlem while playing a gold-plated saxophone in October 1923.<ref name="The Studio Museum in Harlem">{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/harlemrenaissanc0000unse_f3u5|title=Harlem Renaissance : art of Black America|date=1987|publisher=The Studio Museum in Harlem|others=Driskell, David C., Lewis, David Levering, 1936–, Willis, Deborah, 1948–, Studio Museum in Harlem.|isbn=0810910993|location=New York|oclc=13945412|url-access=registration}}</ref>

In 1924, Julian, along with Chamberlin, began toying with the idea of performing a [[transatlantic flight]], with stops in Florida, the West Indies, Central America, Brazil, and [[Saint Peter and Saint Paul Archipelago|Saint Paul's Rock]] (in the mid-Atlantic), from [[New York City]] to [[Liberia]].<ref name="The Studio Museum in Harlem"/> An old [[seaplane]] was purchased and refitted for the proposed flight; Julian dubbed it the ''Ethiopia''. On 4 July, with a crowd of thousands gathered at the banks of the [[Harlem River]] to witness his takeoff, Julian boarded his plane, after having UNIA members help raise some last-minute funds to pay off his investors, and soared into the sky. A few minutes would pass before Julian realized that one of his plane's pontoons had filled up with water, throwing the aircraft's weight off balance. Unable to regain control, Julian crashed into [[Flushing Bay]].

Julian would try twice more to pilot a transatlantic flight before the 1920s came to end. The first of these two attempts ended when his plane's wings were vandalized by unknown assailants while they were being stored in [[Happyland Park]]. The second, and final, attempt saw New York State Senator [[A. Spencer Feld]] take the helm of the endeavor, but after [[Amelia Earhart]] crossed the [[Atlantic Ocean]], Julian felt dismayed at the prospect of performing something that had now been done by more than a handful of others and canceled the project.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.airspacemag.com/history-of-flight/the-black-eagle-of-harlem-95208344/|title=The Black Eagle of Harlem|work=Air & Space Magazine}}</ref>

==1930s==
During the first half of the 1930s, Julian made three trips to the [[Ethiopian Empire]]. It was during his second visit when he crashed [[Haile Selassie]]'s favorite plane, causing the emperor to ask Julian to leave his kingdom. But the Black Eagle would return on the eve of the [[Second Italo-Ethiopian War]], gaining a military commission to help defend the African kingdom. It was during this third trip when he would come to blows with [[John Robinson (aviator)|John C. Robinson]], the Brown Condor of [[Chicago]], over jabs in the press which Julian attributed to Robinson. Once it became clear that the forces of [[Fascist Italy (1922-43)|Fascist Italy]] would prevail, Julian left the country.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/harlem-hubert-black-eagle-julian-soared-glory-ethiopia-article-1.803091|title=Harlem's Hubert (Black Eagle) Julian|work=New York Daily News}}</ref> Julian returned to Ethiopia as a volunteer in the [[East African campaign (World War II)|East African Campaign]] of 1940–41.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GN2FkAgXkCI |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/GN2FkAgXkCI| archive-date=2021-12-11 |url-status=live|title=Latest News From Abyssinia|work=British Movietone}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

In December 1937, Julian in the position of equerry to Princess Almeria Ali of Egypt was left in charge of escorting the body of the princess' father Prince Hadji Ali of Egypt, who died November 5, from Paris to [[Johns Hopkins University]] in Baltimore for scientific study. Julian was entrusted with administering the prince's $800,000 estate as well as returning the body to Egypt for interment in the family mausoleum. The prince, a vaudeville artist, was rumored to have a double stomach capable of allowing him to drink gasoline and water, bifurcated to each stomach. He would then squirt out the gasoline to ignite it followed by the water to extinguish the flames.<ref>{{Cite web |date=December 11, 1937 |title=Col. Julian Back as Guide to Egyptian Princess |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/668573307/ |access-date=2023-11-23 |website=Newspapers.com |publisher=The Detroit Tribune |page=8 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=December 9, 1937 |title=Julian Back in U.S. With Hifaluting Title |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/693157505/ |access-date=2023-11-23 |website=Newspapers.com |publisher=California Eagle |pages=1, 13 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=December 4, 1937 |title=Julian's Back, This Time With Body Of Prince Ali of Egypt |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/40839099/ |access-date=2023-11-23 |website=Newspapers.com |publisher=The New York Age |page=1 |language=en}}</ref> The [[New York Amsterdam News|Amsterdam News]] claimed this venture by Julian was a fake, but later recanted with an apology.<ref>{{Cite web |date=February 5, 1938 |title=Success Story Dept. |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/40842961/ |access-date=2023-11-23 |website=Newspapers.com |publisher=The New York Age |page=11 |language=en}}</ref> 

As a result of abdicating his British citizenship to accept Ethiopian citizenship and failing to apply for a re-entry permit to the U.S., in 1938, he experienced passport challenges that delayed his re-entry, subsequently compromising a $200,000 business deal potentially connected to a proposed non-stop flight from New York to Karachi, India.<ref>{{Cite web |date=September 1, 1938 |title=Line on Liners |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/52877221/ |access-date=2023-11-23 |website=Newspapers.com |publisher=The Brooklyn Daily Eagle |page=22 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=September 17, 1938 |title=Black Eagle Says Passport Trouble Cost Him $200,000 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/872047032/ |access-date=2023-11-23 |website=Newspapers.com |publisher=The Black Dispatch |page=1 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Burke |first=Maurice |date=August 29, 1938 |title=Sidelights In News Of Capitals |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/396223972/ |access-date=2023-11-23 |website=Newspapers.com |publisher=Wilkes-Barre Times Leader, the Evening News |page=10 |language=en}}</ref>

Julian spent his time stateside traveling with William Powell's Five Blackbirds, an all black flying troupe who performed in the Midwest and California as well as performing piloting services for paying customers like [[Father Divine]]. December 1939, Julian attempted to settle a lawsuit between Father Divine and one of his fallen Angels, Mrs. Verinda Brown. New York Supreme Court Justice Benedict E. Dineen and both parties eventually agreed to the $12,000 in warehouse receipts for whiskey presented by Julian with the intention of covering Divine's $6500 to $17,000 in claims.<ref>{{Cite web |date=December 8, 1939 |title=Offers $12,000 To Settle Suit Of An Ex-Angel |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/956477234/ |access-date=2023-11-23 |website=Newspapers.com |publisher=The St. Louis Argus |pages=1, 12 |language=en}}</ref> Julian purported to own more than $800,000 worth of 25-year old whiskey.<ref>{{Cite web |date=December 8, 1939 |title=Settlement Off |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/840758389/ |access-date=2023-11-23 |website=Newspapers.com |publisher=The Buffalo News |page=29 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=December 7, 1939 |title=Divine Between Devil and Deep |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/63820221/ |access-date=2023-11-23 |website=Newspapers.com |publisher=The Morning Herald |page=18 |language=en}}</ref> Upwards of twenty-five defrauded Angels came forward as a result insisting on being repaid, forcing Julian to quickly withdraw his offer on the grounds of fairness to all and an inability to pay them all.<ref>{{Cite web |date=December 28, 1939 |title=Father Divine Again on Trial |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/692880755/ |access-date=2023-11-22 |website=Newspapers.com |publisher=California Eagle |page=11 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last1=Rice |first1=William |last2=McNulty |first2=John |date=December 19, 1939 |title=Angel Gave Divine Her Gift for Saving Child |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/431276147/ |access-date=2023-11-22 |website=Newspapers.com |publisher=Daily News |page=22 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=December 16, 1939 |title=Julian Does It Again |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/40931024/ |access-date=2023-11-22 |website=Newspapers.com |publisher=The New York Age |page=12 |language=en}}</ref> He also embarked on a short-lived career as a film producer with the director [[Oscar Micheaux]], helping to fund the distribution for two of Micheaux's films: ''[[Lying Lips]]'' and ''The Notorious Eleanor Lee''.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Contemporary Black Biography|publisher=Gale|year=2011|isbn=9781414472669|location=Detroit MI|chapter=Hubert Julian}}</ref>

==1940s==
[[File:Kolonel Julian in een achtergelaten en zwaar beschadid Japans vliegtuig, Bestanddeelnr 508-6-2.jpg|thumb|Julian in Yogyakarta, Indonesia (1949)]]
During the [[Winter War]] between [[Finland]] and the [[Soviet Union]], Julian, along with many other American volunteers, left for Finland in order to help provide assistance. He was there for several months without seeing action, before departing back for the United States.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://harlemworldmag.com/hubert-fauntleroy-julian-the-black-eagle-of-harlem/|title=Hubert Fauntleroy Julian "The Black Eagle of Harlem"|work=Harlem World Mag}}</ref>

When Julian learned, from [[Giuseppe Mario Bellanca|Giuseppe Bellanca]], what [[Adolf Hitler]] and [[Hermann Göring]] had been saying about peoples of color, the Black Eagle issued a challenge to the latter, offering the [[Nazi Germany|Nazi]] leader the chance to duel him in an aerial battle above the [[English Channel]]. Göring never gave an official response to the challenge, but Julian gained widespread praise for his bold verbal attacks.<ref>[https://www.spiegel.de/geschichte/hubert-julian-der-mann-der-hermann-goering-zum-luft-duell-forderte-a-1dee5352-2ca0-4c27-bbe5-9cfdb81200be Der Mann, der Göring zum Luftduell forderte]</ref>

Once the [[attack on Pearl Harbor]] thrust the United States into [[World War II]], Julian, now in his 40s, enlisted into the military. He would serve less than a year, becoming an American citizen in the process, and earning an honorable discharge with the final rank of [[private first class]].

==1950s and 1960s==
After the end of World War II Julian become a licensed arms dealer. His first contract was with the [[Jacobo Árbenz|Arbenz]] government of [[Guatemala]]. He defied the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]] when, after being asked to cease his dealings, Julian continued selling. His second contract was with the [[Fulgencio Batista|Batista]] government of [[Cuba]] as it tried, and ultimately failed, to combat [[Fidel Castro]]'s revolutionaries. His third, and final, contract was with [[Moïse Tshombe|Moise Tshombe]], leader of [[Katanga Province|Katanga]] during the Congo Secession Crisis of the early 1960s. Julian was detained by [[United Nations]] forces for questioning and was in the end jailed for four months before being released. He retired upon his return to the United States.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1974/07/06/archives/black-eagle-of-harlem-77-looks-back-on-days-as-flier-and-soldier-of.html|title=The Black Eagle Reflects|work=The New York Times}}</ref>

==Later years and death==
Julian spent his retirement meeting the likes of [[Muhammad Ali]] and appearing on ''[[The Merv Griffin Show]]'' and ''[[The Tonight Show]]''. He died in 1983 and was buried at [[Calverton National Cemetery]] in [[Suffolk County, New York]].<ref name=":0">{{Citation|title=The Black Eagle of Harlem|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9W-z9TKDmk|language=en|access-date=2022-02-09}}</ref>

==Personal life==
Hubert Julian was married three times. His first marriage, which lasted only a few years, was to Edna Powell. His second marriage, his longest, was to Essie Gittens, whom he had known while growing up in Trinidad. They raised a young orphaned cousin of Essie's, a girl named Olga, as their own. His third marriage, after Essie died, was to a woman named Doreen, who gave birth to Julian's only biological child, Mark Anthony Bernard Julian, in July 1971.<ref name=":0" />

==In popular culture==
*''The Black Eagle of Harlem'' is a documentary by independent filmmaker Billy Tooma. It covers Julian's life from his birth in Trinidad to his adventures in Harlem, Ethiopia, and everywhere between. It saw its world premiere on 24 June 2017, at the [[Aviation Hall of Fame & Museum of New Jersey]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://allevents.in/teterboro/the-black-eagle-of-harlem-world-premiere/1127191734091683 |title=The Black Eagle of Harlem (World Premiere) |website=AllEvents.in |language=en|access-date=1 July 2019}}</ref>
* Julian is the central character of [[Chasing the Black Eagle]], an historical novel by Canadian author [[Bruce Geddes]], published by [[Dundurn Press]] in 2023.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.dundurn.com/books_/t22117/a9781459750593-chasing-the-black-eagle |title=Chasing the Black Eagle |publisher=Dundrun Press |date=April 2023}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==Further reading==
* Gubert, Betty K.; Sawyer, Miriam; Fannin, Caroline. ''Distinguished African Americans in Aviation and Space Science.'' (The Oryx Press, 2002), 182-187
* {{Cite book|chapter=Julian, Hubert F.|title=[[American National Biography]]|chapter-url=http://www.anb.org/articles/20/20-01868.html|publisher=Oxford University Press}} {{Subscription required}}
* Othen, Christopher. ''Lost Lions of Judah: Haile Selassie's Mongrel Foreign Legion'' (Amberley Publishing, 2017)
* Shaftel, David. [http://www.airspacemag.com/history-of-flight/The-Black-Eagle-of-Harlem.html "The Black Eagle of Harlem: The truth behind the tall tales of Hubert Fauntleroy Julian"], ''Air & Space Magazine'', 1 January 2009
* Snider, Jill. "Great Shadow in the Sky: The Airplane in the Tulsa Race Riot of 1921 and the Development of African American Visions of Aviation, 1921–1926," in [https://books.google.com/books?id=ISeibypYDEcC The Airplane in American Culture], ed Dominick Pisano (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press 2003), 105–146
* White, Shane, Stephen Garton, Stephen Robertson and Graham White. "The Black Eagle of Harlem". In ''Beyond Blackface: African Americans and the Creation of American Popular Culture, 1890–1930'', ed. Fitzhugh Brundage (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2011)

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Julian, Hubert}}
[[Category:1897 births]]
[[Category:1983 deaths]]
[[Category:American anti-fascists]]
[[Category:African-American aviators]]
[[Category:American aviation record holders]]
[[Category:American people of Trinidad and Tobago descent]]
[[Category:Burials at Calverton National Cemetery]]
[[Category:Ethiopian Air Force personnel]]
[[Category:Flight endurance record holders]]
[[Category:Trinidad and Tobago aviators]]
[[Category:United States Army personnel of World War II]]
[[Category:United States Army soldiers]]
[[Category:Military personnel of the Second Italo-Ethiopian War]]