Ed Dwight’s life story is one of continuously overcoming overwhelming odds to find success. He is the quintessential Undeniable Spirit, a never give up renaissance man. The Former Air Force Captain was selected by President John F. Kennedy in 1961 as the nation’s first Black astronaut candidate. And, most recently, Dwight became the oldest man to break the bounds of Earth and go to outer space on a Blue Origin rocket—at the age of 90 years old.

Born in 1933 and raised in Kansas City, Kansas, Dwight joined the U.S. Air Force in 1953. Following pilot training, he served as a military fighter pilot, flying some of the era’s most advanced jet aircraft while attending school full- time at Arizona State University, where he graduated cum laude with a degree in aeronautical engineering.

In 1961, Dwight was chosen by President John F. Kennedy to enter training at the Aerospace Research Pilot School (ARPS), an elite U.S. Air Force flight training program helmed at the time by aviation icon Chuck Yeager at Edwards Air Force Base and known as a pathway for entering NASA’s astronaut corps. After successfully completing the program, he proceeded into Aerospace Research Pilot training in preparation for astronaut duties. Dwight was one of 26 people recommended to NASA by the Air Force for the astronaut corps—but ultimately not among those selected.

In 1966, three years after President Kennedy’s death, Dwight left the military. Upon entering private life, Dwight worked as a systems engineer at IBM, in addition to founding a restaurant chain and a real estate development company in Denver before ultimately fulfilling his childhood dream of becoming an artist.

For nearly five decades, Dwight has dedicated his life’s work to using sculpture as a medium to tell the story of Black history. His early career as a sculptor began with a commission in 1974 to create a sculpture of George Brown, Colorado’s first Black Lieutenant Governor. He was then asked by the Colorado Centennial Commission to create a series of bronzes entitled Black Frontier in the American West to honor the contributions of African Americans in opening up the West. This led to Dwight’s next major series of bronzes, Jazz: An American Artform, depicting the evolution of jazz music from its roots in Africa to the contemporary artists of the jazz era, including Duke Ellington, Miles Davis, Charlie Parker, Louis “Satchmo” Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, and Benny Goodman. In total, Dwight has created more than 20,000 gallery works, many of which are on display at galleries and museums across the world along with many fine art collectors.

In addition to his gallery works, Dwight has created more than 130 public artworks and large-scale monuments celebrating iconic Black figures, including Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Frederick Douglass, and Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad, among many others. Dwight’s work is installed in museums and public spaces across the U.S. and Canada. Dwight’s story is both interesting and entertaining—and will inspire people to unlock their own inner Undeniable Spirit to succeed in their life’s endeavors.

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