Edward Dwight Jr.
*Edward Dwight Jr. was born on this date in 1933. He is a Black sculptor, author, former test pilot, and astronaut.
Edward Joseph Dwight Jr. was born in Kansas City, Kansas area, to Georgia Baker Dwight and Edward Joseph Dwight Sr., a Negro League baseball player. At age 4, Dwight built a toy airplane from orange crates in his backyard. He attended grade school at Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Kansas City. In 1951, he became the first Black 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. Dwight graduated with an Associate of Arts degree in engineering from Kansas City Junior College in 1953 and enlisted in the United States Air Force the same year.
Dwight completed his airman and cadet pre-flight training at San Antonio, Texas, and his primary flight training in Malden, Missouri. He earned a commission as an Air Force second lieutenant in 1955 at Williams Air Force Base in Arizona. Dwight attended night classes at Arizona State University. In 1957, he graduated with a Bachelor of Science in aeronautical engineering. Dwight later completed Air Force courses in experimental test piloting and aerospace research at Edwards Air Force Base in 1961 and 1962, respectively.
He earned the rank of captain while serving in the Air Force. In 1961, the Aerospace Research Pilot School (ARPS), a U.S. Air Force program, sent some graduates into the NASA Astronaut Corps. Dwight was selected to enter ARPS shortly after Whitney Young of the National Urban League put the idea of a Black astronaut in President Kennedy's head during a meeting with Kennedy. Dwight proceeded to Phase II of (ARPS) but was not selected by NASA as an astronaut.
He resigned from the Air Force in 1966, claiming that "racial politics had forced him out of NASA and into the regular officer corps." After the Air Force, Dwight worked as an engineer in real estate and for I.B.M., opened a barbecue restaurant in Denver, and occasionally was a successful construction entrepreneur. His artistic interest in sculpting and learning about black historical icons grew after he was commissioned to create a statue for the state capitol building in 1974.
Upon completion, Dwight moved to Denver and earned an M.F.A. in sculpture from the University of Denver in 1977. As an artist, Dwight has innovative use of negative space in sculpting. Many of his pieces involve Blacks and civil rights activists. He created a series of more than seventy bronze sculptures at the St. Louis Arch Museum at the request of the National Park Service.
He owns and operates Ed Dwight Studios, based in Denver. In August 2020, Dwight became an honorary Space Force member in Washington, D.C. In 2024, Dwight was selected for Blue Origin's New Shepard NS-25, sponsored by Space for Humanity, on May 19, 2024. He became the oldest to fly in space at 90, eight months, and ten days.
