J.K. Obatala last interviewed Edward Dwight in the mid-1970s, as an Editor and Staff Writer in the “Opinion Section,” of the Los Angeles Times. They lost contact, when Obatala emigrated to Nigeria, 42 years ago. The occasion for renewal, is Dwight’s decision, at 90, to become a passenger on Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin spacecraft — which lifts off today. With the political backing of President John F. Kennedy, Dwight was slated to be among the first group of U.S. astronauts, in the 1960s. But he was passed over, after Kennedy’s assassination, in 1963. Now, “Space for Humanity,” is sponsoring the renowned Denver, Colorado artiste, on an eleven-minute flight to the Karman Line—the technical boundary of “outer space”.

Why did you decide to go into space, at 90?
Well, given everything that has transpired, over the past 60 years or so, there was no choice; my constituency expects it.

Your “constituency”?
Yes. I mean people who have supported and encouraged me, in one way or the other. And I’m not referring, just to my effort to become the first Black Astronaut. I have a constituency of people, who have supported me, in many ways, through all these years.

In fact, this is not only my opportunity, but also theirs. Judging from the letters I get, they are more interested in this thing than I am! If they found out, that I was offered a chance to fly in space and turned it down, they’d be disappointed.

Are you looking forward to the “overview effect,” that Frank White wrote about, in his best-selling 1987 book, by that name?

Am I looking forward to it? Yes. The only worry that I have, is that I have limited vision. But I do have special glasses to support me during the mission—which is not very long.

That’s good. Did you have interaction, either with Jeff Bezos or Space for Humanity (S4H), who is one of your sponsors, before this project came up?
No. No. No. They came to me. Some of my supporters had been talking to other platforms. They had held discussions, that I didn’t know about. But this one, is for real; and I immediately expressed interest. There were people involved, that I knew. That’s why I chose to go with Blue Origin.

Virgin Galactic has just announced that its 7th commercial flight will liftoff on June 8th. I’m just wondering, if this has influenced Blue Origin decision to take off May 19th? Could competition with Virgin Galactic be partially responsible?
I have no idea—and I don’t want to go there! (Laughing) I mean, that part’s out of my league, Buddy!
You are expecting to have a lot of speaking engagements and lectures, after your flight?
Well, you know, Blue Origin has to support their platform, okay.…. I can’t discuss what their plans are, after this thing is over. Blue Origin has its own plans. Then, there are other people, outside Blue Origin organization, that have plans,

How are you going to cope with this challenge, at your age—90?
I’m still active! I’m still working! I have projects, that are going on. I’m building a memorial down in South Carolina, for instance. (Laughing) It’s a memorial to Harriet Tubman.
That’s great! Let me ask you about your personal life, if you wouldn’t mind. Are you married?
Of course! Yes. I’ve been married for 60 years!

Is she African American? Or Caucasian?
She’s African American.

What about your mother, Georgia Baker Dwight? She was also African American?
Yes. But very fair. Her ancestors were from Austria. She looked Caucasian. Let’s put it that way. When she met my Dad, her whole family were passing for white, in Iowa! That was not unusual, for very fair-skinned Blacks, during this era.

You know, my Dad was a player in the old Negro Baseball League. He’d just arrived in Sioux City Iowa, Iowa, to play a game. She came out to watch—and they met.

Who won the game!?
There was no “winner,” as such. They were just going for spring training. That’s how they got their training. What they did was, travel to small towns in Iowa and play these white teams, for spring training. They were just “warming up” for the season. Things are more organized, now.
The reason I was asking you about your mother, and her background, is that I managed to find a photograph of your father, Edward Dwight, Senior, in Wikipedia.

Yes. He was not very tall. He was a short guy. He was only about five feet six inches, or thereabout. But he was very stocky in build. And he could run very, very fast!”

As you prepare to liftoff, does “Chuck Yeager” cross your mind?
No. No. I don’t have any reason, to be thinking about “Chuck Yeager”. Everybody ends up having something to say, about me and Chuck Yeager. I ended up knowing him, very, very well! He didn’t understand, how this little short Black guy, could talk back to him!

He was very upset, because President John F Kennedy, forced him to take me into the Test Pilot school! He was upset, because Kennedy didn’t call him. I blame the President, for that. He could have made things a lot easier, by just telling Yeager, “This is what I’m doing; and I need some support.”

But the President didn’t do that. He just assigned me out there, without telling this guy I was coming. Yeager was really upset about it. I would have been upset too, because these guys pick their own. It’s a club, that Test Pilots belong to…They hold meeting, and stuff…

Yeager was a hero. He had been the first pilot to break the sound barrier—i.e., fly faster than the speed of sound…
It was more than just breaking the sound barrier. I mean, the guy was quite a hero, in many respects. Actually, he never finished high school! That’s what’s fascinating about Chuck Yeager. He dropped out of high school, to join the Army Air Corp.

Yeager was from a small town, in West Virginia. They’d never seen a Black person! His personal thing, was that Black people was not as smart as White people. That was just his attitude. I did not have a lot of respect for him, because he tried to force me out. He was not successful—but he tried like hell!

“They are trying to cram a ‘Nigger’ down our throats,” Yeager reportedly told Test Pilots, at a meeting. “And if he graduates, that’s going to open the door to lots of other Blacks, entering ‘Research and Development,’ ‘Flight Testing’ and ‘Space Flight’”. Those were his concerns.
Who planted the idea in your head, that you should become an astronaut? Was it “Whitney Young,”

President of the National Urban League?
Yes. And it was a good idea. But it didn’t, really, have anything to do with me, or any other Black, flying in space! Whitney Young had done some studies, and found that we didn’t have any Black engineers or scientists—and we weren’t growing any.

So, Kennedy, then a Senator, met with a group of African Americans, that included Dr. Martin Luther King, Roy Wilkins, Whitney Young and A. Phillip Randolph. At the meeting, Kennedy wanted to know, “What can I do, to get the Black vote”. That’s what it was all about—the Black vote.

People had different answers. But Whitney said, “Look, we don’t have any Black scientists and engineers—and we’re not growing any. That’s because the big white institutions, are not letting our kids into their schools”.

If, for example, you went to a Black high school, and earned “A” or “B,” the big white universities would automatically downgrade it to “C”—and not admit the student. So, Whitney came up with this idea, of flooding the Military Academies, with Black students.

Everybody gets all worked up, about my not going into space. I would like to have gone. But I still did my job. My job was to inspire the kids Whitney Young was putting in the Academies.

What led you into art, as a profession?
I was always going to be an artiste. I started doing art, when I was two years old. I was the school artiste through kindergarten, elementary school and high school. I received a scholarship, out of secondary school, to the Kansas City Art Institute.

But I found out that they were letting Blacks fly airplanes. So, I applied for pilot training—and got accepted immediately.

The line is getting bad. I hope we can have a more comprehensive interview when you come down. Meanwhile, enjoy your flight.

Okay. Thanks.