He made his name in Al Capone’s Chicago investigating racial violence, solving crimes, and exposing corruption. But America’s first Black private detective was hiding secrets of his own.
Issue no. 165, “The Talented Mr. Bruseaux,” is now live:
In September 1919, Bruseaux opened the doors of the Keystone Detective Agency at 3333 South State, a popular address among Black entrepreneurs. The agency was the first of its kind to be owned by a Black man. The Chicago Defender, the city’s leading Black newspaper, boasted that Keystone was the first detective agency to be run by “our group.”
Tall and broad shouldered, with his short hair conked and split into a stylish side part, Bruseaux cultivated an air of old money, wearing the finely cut suits favored by bankers. (He’d one day be included on a list of the city’s best-dressed men.) Along with other investigative services, Bruseaux offered to shadow unfaithful spouses and locate lost relatives—a common concern for families whose members had been separated during the migration north. His agency made use of emerging technologies like fingerprinting, listening devices, and hidden cameras. Ambitious from the start, Bruseaux made it known that he was available for jobs anywhere in the country, publicizing his business with the slogan “We Cover the World.”