Ed Dwight | |
|---|---|
 Dwight in Air Force uniform | |
| Born | Edward Joseph Dwight Jr. (1933-09-09)September 9, 1933 (age 91) Kansas City, Kansas, U.S. |
| Education | Kansas City Junior College (AA) Arizona State University, Tempe (BS) University of Denver (MFA) |
| Known for | Work as a professional sculptor, and becoming the oldest personto ever fly in space. |
| Military career | |
| Allegiance |  United States |
| Service |  United States Air Force |
| Years of service | 1953–1966 |
| Rank | Captain |
| Awards | Air Force Commander's Award for Public Service |
| Space career | |
| Spaceflight participant | |
Flight time | 9m 53s |
| Selection | Space for Humanity (2024) |
| Missions | Blue Origin NS-25 |
Mission insignia |  |
| Website | eddwight |
Edward Joseph Dwight Jr. (born September 9, 1933) is an Americansculptor, author, retiredtest pilot, and astronaut. Enlisting in theU.S. Air Force in 1953, he earned a commission as alieutenant in 1955. In 1961, at the direction of PresidentJohn F. Kennedy, Dwight became the firstAfrican American to enter the Air Force training program from whichNASA selectedastronauts.[1] Although he completed training at theAerospace Research Pilot School in 1963[1] and advanced to the second round of the program, he was controversially not selected for theAstronaut Corps.[2][3]
Dwight eventually traveled into space on theBlue Origin NS-25 mission in 2024, becoming theoldest person to ever participate in a spaceflight, a record previously held byWilliam Shatner.[4] In 2020, he became an honorary member of theU.S. Space Force during a ceremony at thePentagon.[5]
An accomplished sculptor, Dwight has completed a number of public monuments, including theTexas African American History Memorial on the grounds of theTexas State Capitol, and the African American History Monument on the grounds of theSouth Carolina State House.[6]
Dwight was born on September 9, 1933, in the racially segregated[7]Kansas City, Kansas area, to Georgia Baker Dwight (1909–2006) andEdward Joseph Dwight Sr. (1905–1975), who played second base and centerfield for theKansas City Monarchs and otherNegro league teams from 1924 to 1937.[8][9][10][11]
At age four, Dwight built a toy airplane out of orange crates in his backyard.[7] As a child, he was an avid reader and talented artist who was mechanically gifted and enjoyed working with his hands.[8] He attended grade school at Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Kansas City. While delivering newspapers, he saw Air Force pilot Dayton Ragland, a Black man from Kansas City, on the front page ofThe Call. Having grown up in racist segregation, he instantly "wigged out", becoming inspired to follow this career path while thinking "This is insane. I didn't even know they let black pilots get anywhere near airplanes. ... Where did he get trained? How did he get in the military? How did all this stuff happen right before my nose?"[7] In 1951, he became the first African-American male to graduate fromBishop Ward High School, a privateCatholic high school in Kansas City, Kansas. He was a member of theNational Honor Society and earned a scholarship to attend theKansas City Art Institute.[12][13][14] Dwight enrolled atKansas City Junior College and graduated with anAssociate of Arts degree inengineering in 1953.
Dwight enlisted in theUnited States Air Force in 1953.[15] He completed his airman and cadet pre-flight training atLackland Air Force Base nearSan Antonio, Texas. He then traveled toMalden Air Base inMalden, Missouri, to finish his primary flight training. He earned a commission as an Air Forcesecond lieutenant in 1955 before being assigned toWilliams Air Force Base, southeast ofPhoenix, Arizona.[12][13]
While training to become atest pilot, Dwight attended night classes atArizona State University. In 1957, he graduatedcum laude with aBachelor of Science degree inaeronautical engineering.[8][12][13][15] Dwight later completed Air Force courses in experimental test piloting and aerospace research atEdwards Air Force Base in 1961 and 1962, respectively.[16] He earned the rank ofcaptain while serving in the Air Force.[17]
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In 1961,Chuck Yeager was running theAerospace Research Pilot School (ARPS), a U.S. Air Force program that had sent some of its graduates into theNASA Astronaut Corps. Yeager saidCurtis LeMay called and told him, "Bobby Kennedy wants a colored in space. Get one into your course."[18] Dwight was selected to enter ARPS shortly after that phone call. Dwight has said thatWhitney Young of theNational Urban League put the idea of a Black astronaut in President Kennedy's head during a meeting with Kennedy, Young, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and A. Philip Randolph. However, in Dwight's telling, this meeting happened in 1959, when Whitney Young was an unknown college administrator and Kennedy was a senator from Massachusetts. Young's biographer says that this meeting did not happen.[19] Nonetheless, Dwight's selection into this Air Force program garnered international media attention, and Dwight appeared on the covers of news magazines such asEbony,Jet,[20] andSepia.[8][17][21]
During an interview with French media outletRadio Campus Orléans in October 2024, Dwight claimed that President Kennedy askedWernher Von Braun if he could include a black astronaut in NASA's space program, which Von Braun refused because it would "destroy NASA with a fight with black people at NASA".[22]
Dwight proceeded to Phase II of ARPS,[23] but was not selected by NASA to be an astronaut. He resigned from the Air Force in 1966, claiming, according toThe Guardian, that "racial politics had forced him out of NASA and into the regular officer corps".[21][24][25][26]
In August 2020, Dwight was made an honorary Space Force member inWashington, D.C.[5]
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After resigning from the Air Force, Dwight worked as an engineer, in real estate, and forIBM.[15] He opened a barbecue restaurant in Denver.[27] Dwight was also a successful construction entrepreneur and occasionally "built things with scrap metal". Dwight's artistic interest in sculpting and interest in learning about black historical icons grew after Colorado's first black lieutenant governor,George L. Brown, commissioned him to create a statue for the state capitol building in 1974.[24] Upon completion, Dwight moved toDenver and earned anM.F.A. in sculpture from theUniversity of Denver in 1977.[17] He learned how to operate theUniversity of Denver'smetal casting foundry in the mid-1970s.[8][17]
Dwight has been recognized for his innovative use ofnegative space in sculpting.[8] Each of his pieces involves Blacks and civil rights activists, with a focus on the themes of slavery, emancipation, and post-reconstruction.[24] Most of the pieces depict only Black people, but the Underground Railroad Sculpture in Battle Creek also honors Erastus and Sarah Hussey, who were conductors on theUnderground Railroad. Dwight's first major work was a commission in 1974 to create a sculpture ofColorado Lieutenant GovernorGeorge L. Brown. Soon after, he was commissioned by the Colorado Centennial Commission to create a series of bronze sculptures entitled "Black Frontier in the American West".[15]
Soon after he completed the "Black Frontier in the American West" exhibit, Dwight created a series of more than seventy bronze sculptures at the St. Louis Arch Museum at the request of theNational Park Service. The series, "Jazz: An American Art Form", depicts the evolution of jazz and features jazz performers such asLouis Armstrong,Miles Davis,Duke Ellington,Ella Fitzgerald,Benny Goodman, andCharlie Parker.[15]
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Dwight owns and operates Ed Dwight Studios, based in Denver.[8] Its 25,000 square feet (2,300 m2), facility houses a studio, gallery, foundry, and a large collection of research material.[28][24] The gallery and studio is open to the public.
In 2024, Dwight was selected for asuborbital spaceflight mission and flew onBlue Origin'sNew ShepardNS-25, sponsored bySpace For Humanity on May 19, 2024. He became the oldest person to fly in space at 90 years 8 months and 10 days, surpassingWilliam Shatner.[4] Post-flight, Dwight articulated experiencing theoverview effect, "Out the window, I could see the Earth. Everything looked ordered and neat and wonderful and beautiful. There was no separation between countries or states. And you ask yourself: As wonderful as it all is, why can’t the people who live on it get along? Why don’t they want to take care of such a beautiful place?"Rosengren, John (February 7, 2025)."The Ride of His Life".AARP.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
The others members of the crew were Mason Angel, Sylvain Chiron, Carol Schaller,Kenneth Hess and Thotakura Gopichand.[29]Victor J. Glover, former NASA administratorCharles Bolden,Leland D. Melvin,Bernard A. Harris Jr. andLivingston L. Holder Jr. attended the launch.
Dwight was raisedCatholic, and served as analtar boy.[35] In 1997, he was the lead sculptor on the statue of theMadonna and Child for theOur Mother of Africa Chapel, a structure devoted to African-American Catholics in theBasilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, the largest church in North America. Dwight was the only black artist involved in the project. He was inducted intoPhi Beta Sigma fraternity as an honorary brother at their 2023 conclave, held in Houston, Texas.[36]
As of late 2024, Dwight has created 132 memorial sculptures and over 20,000 gallery pieces, which include paintings and sculptures.[22] His works include these:[37]
| Name | Picture | Location | Unveiled | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| African American History Monument | South Carolina State House grounds –Columbia, South Carolina | March 29, 2001 | [8][37] | |
| Alex Haley / Kunta Kinte Memorial | The City Dock –Annapolis, Maryland | December 1999 | [8][37] | |
| Black Revolutionary War Patriots Memorial | Constitution Gardens – Washington, D.C. | 1991 | [8] | |
| Captain Walter Dyett Statue | Chicago, Illinois | [37] | ||
| Concerto | Folly Theater –Kansas City, Missouri | [37] | ||
| Dr. Benjamin Mays | Morehouse College Commons –Atlanta, Georgia | [37] | ||
| Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. | Anne Arundel Community College –Annapolis, Maryland | 2006 | [37] | |
| Statue of Martin Luther King Jr. | Houston, Texas | 2007 | [37] | |
| Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial | City Park – Denver,Colorado | 2002 | [8][37] | |
| Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. & Coretta Scott King | Allentown, Pennsylvania | 2011 | [37] | |
| Gateway to Freedom International Memorial to the Underground Railroad | Philip A. Hart Plaza – Detroit, Michigan | 2001 | [8][37][38] | |
| George Washington Williams bust | Ohio Statehouse –Columbus, Ohio | [8] | ||
| Hank Aaron | Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium –Atlanta, Georgia | 1982 | [37][10] | |
| Inauguration of History and Hope – Inaugural Sculpture Scene of President Barack Obama | Touring exhibit | 2010 | [37] | |
| Jack Trice Memorial | Iowa State University –Ames, Iowa | [37] | ||
| Jazz: An American Art Form | St. Louis Arch Museum –St. Louis,Missouri | [15] | ||
| John Hope Franklin Tower of Reconciliation | Tulsa, Oklahoma | [37] | ||
| Mayor Harold Washington | Harold Washington Cultural Center – Chicago, Illinois | 2004 | [37] | |
| Memorial to Rosa Parks, Mother of the Civil Rights Movement | Grand Rapids, Michigan | 2010 | [37] | |
| Mother of Africa Chapel | Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception – Washington, D.C. | 1997 | [37] | |
| Mr. Frederick Douglass | Frederick Douglass National Historic Site – Washington, D.C. | 1980 | Dwight's first commission[37] | |
| Quincy Jones Sculpture Park | Chicago, Illinois | [8] | ||
| Soldiers Memorial | Lincoln University –Jefferson City, Missouri | 2007 | [37] | |
| Texas African American History Memorial | Texas State Capitol –Austin, Texas | November 19, 2016 | [39] Erected by the Texas African American History Memorial Foundation. | |
| Tower of Freedom International Memorial to the Underground Railroad |  | Civic Esplanade –Windsor, Ontario | 2001 | [8][37][38] |
| Underground Railroad Memorial | Kellogg Foundation headquarters –Battle Creek, Michigan | 1994 | [37] | |
| United House of Prayer for All People | Lincoln Cemetery –Suitland, Maryland | 2008 | [37] | |
| William E. Smith, Director of Airports | Denver,Colorado | [37] | ||
| Denmark Vesey Monument | Charleston, South Carolina | 2014 | [40] |
Furthermore, Dwight said in October 2024 that he was currently working on a memorial toNormandy beaches in honor of the black soldiers ofWorld War II.[22]
Originally from Kansas City, he joined the U.S. Air Force in 1953, where he served as afighter pilot and was appointed by PresidentJohn F. Kennedy to train as the country's first black astronaut. He left in 1966, he said, after racial politics forced him out ofNASA and back into the regular officer corps.
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| National | |
