Ed Dwight

Last updated

Edward J. Dwight Jr.
Captain Edward J. Dwight Jr. in US Air Force.jpg
Dwight while serving as a captain in the United States Air Force
Born
Edward Joseph Dwight Jr.

(1933-09-09) September 9, 1933 (age 90)
NationalityAmerican
Alma mater
Known forSculpture
Awards Air Force Commander's Award for Public Service
Military career
AllegianceFlag of the United States (23px).png  United States
Service/branchFlag of the United States Air Force.svg  United States Air Force
Years of service1953–1966
Rank US-O3 insignia.svg Captain
Website www.eddwight.com

Edward Joseph Dwight Jr. (born September 9, 1933) is an American sculptor, author, former test pilot, and astronaut. He is the first African American to have entered the Air Force training program from which NASA selected astronauts. He was controversially not selected to officially join NASA. He finally achieved spaceflight on May 19, 2024, surpassing William Shatner as the oldest person to fly in space.

Contents

Biography

Early life

Dwight was born on September 9, 1933, in the racially segregated [1] Kansas City, Kansas area, to Georgia Baker Dwight (1909–2006) and Edward Joseph Dwight Sr. (1905–1975), who played second base and centerfield for the Kansas City Monarchs and other Negro league teams from 1924 to 1937. [2] [3] [4] [5]

At age 4, Dwight built a toy airplane out of orange crates in his backyard. [1] As a child, he was an avid reader and talented artist who was mechanically gifted and enjoyed working with his hands. [2] 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 of The 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?". [1] In 1951, he became the first African-American male to graduate from Bishop Ward High School, a private Catholic high school in Kansas City, Kansas. He was a member of the National Honor Society and earned a scholarship to attend the Kansas City Art Institute. [6] [7] [8] Dwight enrolled at Kansas City Junior College and graduated with an Associate of Arts degree in engineering in 1953.

Career

Piloting

American-black-sculptor-and-former-test-pilot-Edward-Joseph-Ed-391768059582.jpg

Dwight enlisted in the United States Air Force in 1953. [9] He completed his airman and cadet pre-flight training at Lackland Air Force Base near San Antonio, Texas. He then traveled to Malden Air Base in Malden, Missouri, to finish his primary flight training. He earned a commission as an Air Force second lieutenant in 1955 before being assigned to Williams Air Force Base, southeast of Phoenix, Arizona. [6] [7]

While training to become a test pilot, Dwight attended night classes at Arizona State University. In 1957, he graduated cum laude with a Bachelor of Science degree in aeronautical engineering. [2] [6] [7] [9] Dwight later completed Air Force courses in experimental test piloting and aerospace research at Edwards Air Force Base in 1961 and 1962, respectively. [10] He earned the rank of captain while serving in the Air Force. [11]

Pre-astronaut training

In 1961, Chuck Yeager was running the Aerospace Research Pilot School (ARPS), a U.S. Air Force program that had sent some of its graduates into the NASA Astronaut Corps. Yeager said Curtis LeMay called and told him, "Bobby Kennedy wants a colored in space. Get one into your course." [12] Dwight was selected to enter ARPS shortly after that phone call. Dwight has said that Whitney Young of the National 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. [13] Nonetheless, Dwight's selection into this Air Force program garnered international media attention, and Dwight appeared on the covers of news magazines such as Ebony , Jet , [14] and Sepia . [2] [11] [15]

Dwight proceeded to Phase II of ARPS, [16] but was not selected by NASA to be an astronaut. He resigned from the Air Force in 1966, claiming, according to The Guardian , that "racial politics had forced him out of NASA and into the regular officer corps". [15] [17] [18] [19]

In August 2020, Dwight was made an honorary Space Force member in Washington, D.C. [20]

Sculpting

After resigning from the Air Force, Dwight worked as an engineer, in real estate, and for IBM. [9] He opened a barbecue restaurant in Denver. [21] 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. [17] Upon completion, Dwight moved to Denver and earned an M.F.A. in sculpture from the University of Denver in 1977. [11] He learned how to operate the University of Denver's metal casting foundry in the mid-1970s. [2] [11]

Dwight has been recognized for his innovative use of negative space in sculpting. [2] Each of his pieces involves Blacks and civil rights activists, with a focus on the themes of slavery, emancipation, and post-reconstruction. [17] 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 the Underground Railroad. Dwight's first major work was a commission in 1974 to create a sculpture of Colorado Lieutenant Governor George 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". [9]

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 the National Park Service. The series, "Jazz: An American Art Form", depicts the evolution of jazz and features jazz performers such as Louis Armstrong, Miles Davis, Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, Benny Goodman, and Charlie Parker. [9]

Dwight owns and operates Ed Dwight Studios, based in Denver. [2] Its 25,000 square feet (2,300 m2), facility houses a studio, gallery, foundry, and a large collection of research material. [22] [17] The gallery and studio is open to the public.

Suborbital spaceflight on New Shepard

In 2024, Dwight was selected for a suborbital spaceflight mission and flew on Blue Origin's New Shepard NS-25, sponsored by Space For Humanity on May 19, 2024. He became the oldest person to fly in space at 90 years 8 months and 10 days, surpassing William Shatner. [23] The others members of the crew were Mason Angel, Sylvain Chiron, Carol Schaller, Kenneth Hess and Thotakura Gopichand. [24] Victor J. Glover, former NASA administrator Charles Bolden, Leland D. Melvin, Bernard A. Harris Jr. and Livingston L. Holder Jr. attended the launch.

Awards and honors

Personal life

Dwight was raised Catholic, and served as an altar boy. [30] In 1997, he was the lead sculptor on the statue of the Madonna and Child for the Our Mother of Africa Chapel, a structure devoted to African-American Catholics in the Basilica 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 into Phi Beta Sigma fraternity as an honorary brother at their 2023 conclave, held in Houston, Texas. [31]

Sculptures

As of late 2019, Dwight has created 129 memorial sculptures and over 18,000 gallery pieces, which include paintings and sculptures. [32] His works include these: [33]

NamePictureLocationUnveiledNotes
African American History Monument South Carolina African American History Monument (7917141422).jpg South Carolina State House grounds – Columbia, South Carolina March 29, 2001 [2] [33]
Alex Haley / Kunta Kinte MemorialThe City Dock – Annapolis, Maryland December 1999 [2] [33]
Black Revolutionary War Patriots Memorial Constitution Gardens – Washington, D.C.1991 [2]
Captain Walter Dyett StatueChicago, Illinois [33]
Concerto Folly TheaterKansas City, Missouri [33]
Dr. Benjamin Mays Morehouse College Commons – Atlanta, Georgia [33]
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Anne Arundel Community CollegeAnnapolis, Maryland 2006 [33]
Statue of Martin Luther King Jr. Houston, Texas2007 [33]
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial City Park – Denver, Colorado 2002 [2] [33]
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. & Coretta Scott King Allentown, Pennsylvania 2011 [33]
Gateway to Freedom International Memorial to the Underground Railroad Philip A. Hart Plaza – Detroit, Michigan2001 [2] [33] [34]
George Washington Williams bust Ohio StatehouseColumbus, Ohio [2]
Hank Aaron Atlanta–Fulton County StadiumAtlanta, Georgia1982 [33] [4]
Inauguration of History and Hope – Inaugural Sculpture Scene of President Barack ObamaTouring exhibit2010 [33]
Jack Trice Memorial Iowa State UniversityAmes, Iowa [33]
Jazz: An American Art FormSt. Louis Arch Museum – St. Louis, Missouri [9]
John Hope Franklin Tower of Reconciliation Tulsa, Oklahoma [33]
Mayor Harold WashingtonHarold Washington Cultural Center – Chicago, Illinois2004 [33]
Memorial to Rosa Parks, Mother of the Civil Rights Movement Grand Rapids, Michigan 2010 [33]
Mother of Africa Chapel Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception – Washington, D.C.1997 [33]
Mr. Frederick Douglass Frederick Douglass National Historic Site – Washington, D.C.1980Dwight's first commission [33]
Quincy Jones Sculpture ParkChicago, Illinois [2]
Soldiers Memorial Lincoln UniversityJefferson City, Missouri 2007 [33]
Texas African American History Memorial Texas State CapitolAustin, Texas November 19, 2016 [35] Erected by the Texas African American History Memorial Foundation.
Tower of Freedom International Memorial to the Underground Railroad Underground Railroad Monument - Windsor, Ontario.JPG Civic Esplanade – Windsor, Ontario2001 [2] [33] [34]
Underground Railroad Memorial Kellogg Foundation headquarters – Battle Creek, Michigan 1994 [33]
United House of Prayer for All PeopleLincoln Cemetery – Suitland, Maryland 2008 [33]
William E. Smith, Director of AirportsDenver, Colorado [33]
Denmark Vesey Monument Charleston, South Carolina 2014 [36]

See also

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