Written by John Lounsbury
Edward Joseph Dwight, Jr is one of America’s top sculptors, specializing in African American subjects and especially memorials. At age 87 he is still active and works out of his studio in Denver which is open to the public. He has created 129 commissioned memorial sculptures and over 18,000 gallery pieces, which include paintings in addition to sculptures.
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But Dwight was not always an artist. He received an engineering degree from Arizona State University in 1957 after enlisting in the U.S. Air Force in 1953. In 1961 he was selected as the first African American astronaut trainee. He advanced to Phase II of Aerospace Research Pilot School (ARPS) but was never selected to be an astronaut.
According to Wikipedia:
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”.[18][13][19][20]
In August 2020, Dwight was made an honorary Space Force member in Washington D.C.[21]
Edward J. Dwight Jr. while serving as a Captain in the US Air Force, by United States Air Force – United States Air Force, Public Domain
Also from Wikipedia:
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.[22] 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.[18] Upon completion, Dwight moved to Denver and earned an M.F.A. degree 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]
What happened since then is included in this video from The New York Times, which shows Dwight being interviewed in 2019. The entire backstory is covered.
Hat tip to Dan Rather.
In addition to the excellent comments about this by Dan Rather, I find the story delivers a great message about what one can do after their dreams are crushed.
A different view of Ed Dwight’s recollections is found in another 2019 interview by CBS46 Atlanta. The questions in this interview are often inaudible but if you turn your volume up the answers are very clear and in general stand on their own without hearing the questions.
Finally, here is another short video which gives still another view of Ed Dwight, from the Bonfils-Stanton Foundation when Dwight won their 2020 Artist Award:
Caption image credit: Clip from Bronze Sculpture of Hank Aaron from the Ed Dwight Sculptor & Historian Catalog (Ed Dwight Studios, Inc. 3434 E 43rd Ave, Denver, CO 80216 Office: (303) 329-9040 Fax: (303) 322-9669 [email protected]). Full image:
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