And finally tonight, the last in our series hidden histories. Space exploration has long fascinated
humans from the fantasy of the ancient Greeks to the reality of the moon landings last century.
Venturing into space is about pushing into new frontiers, but not
just the technological. Tonight we bring you the story of pilot and
astronaut candidate Dwight
And White had sky high dreams from the time he was growing up in
the Midwest whites. First Love was art. Actually, he drew and trace
cartoons in newspapers from a small child, but his second passion
was airplanes. Jermaine Fowler is the author of the Humanity Archive
hung around his local hanger. And so he begins cleaning out airplanes
when he's five and six years old.
Being around this all white Group of aviators Peak Dwight's interest
in flying, but in segregated Kansas City, Kansas, it was hard to
imagine a future for himself in the air
is delivering newspapers and he saw therefore, Spilotro Dayton Ragland,
Black man from Kansas City on the front page of a black newspaper
called the call, and This is kind of when the light bulb went off like
I could be a pilot to. After earning an associate's degree in engineering.
Dwight joined the U. S Air Force and trained to become a test pilot.
He was stationed in Texas, Missouri and Arizona and on the side earned
his bachelors degree in aeronautical engineering. Michael Cassette
is an author in Spaces Story in the Air Force at its test pilot school.
Started creating what they call a space school that would allow you
to be more qualified to fly for NASA. Through it all. Dwight had
one goal in mind to become America's first black astronaut. There's
one time in 1962 were Dwight. He's flying the F one. Oh four star
fighter.
Nicknamed the Chrome javelin, and this is a supersonic aircraft that
reaches the edges of the Earth's atmosphere, and it's very dangerous
up there. You could black out you could crash you could die and you
know he's he's ready for this thrill. He's really wants to become
this astronaut. It was the early sixties, America was roiled by the
civil rights movement and captivated by the space race with the Soviet Union.
White House officials had a stake in Dwight joining NASA's all white
astronaut Corps. Kennedy administration had made it clear to the
higher ups of the air Force that they were interested in having a
black Air Force officer not only go through the school, but then
become a candidate to be a a NASA astronaut to be part of the Apollo
program
onlooker. I suppose you could say that this is definitely
A sign of progress for the Negro in the country.
I personally think that
I would like to think about as as an individual rather than
Me being a Negro. Dwight was thrust into the media spotlight, Ebony
and other magazines and newspapers talking about him while he was
probably just trying to keep his head down and do a good job as a
student, But NASA was not immune to the nation's racial tensions,
eager who ran the Edwards Air Force base. He did not want him there
from the very beginning, So it's always getting this pushback people
questioning if he's there only because he's black.
And he's under immense scrutiny. Still, Dwight persistent, he completed
the rigorous training and with a recommendation from the air Force
applied to become a NASA astronaut. You all know why you're here
today And while we're here, um we'd like to introduce the new group
of 14 astronauts. Future Apollo astronauts Buzz Aldrin, Alan Bean
and Eugene Cernan were among those selected.
Dwight did not make the cut
left a year later resigned his commission and went on to business
and a new life, retired from the Air Force moved to Colorado and
turned to a childhood passion he'd left behind. He didn't make history
as an astronaut, but he makes it in the form of art. So he has all
these great historical monuments all across the country, from Atlanta
to Denver to Washington, D. C. It took until 1983 for a black American.
To go into space when Guy Blue Furred was a space shuttle Challenger,
mission specialist
Nine years later, May, Jemison became the first black woman in space
aboard the shuttle endeavor. Dwight paved the way for both of them,
even though his own dream of spaceflight was never fulfilled.