Space/Race: Dreams Deferred
In the midst of the civil rights movement, Air Force pilot Ed Dwight was an astronaut trainee in the early 1960's, poised to become the first Black man in space. While Dwight described facing discrimination from within the program, he had a champion in President John F. Kennedy.
Dwight’s full potential would never be realized, as support for his participation in the space program dissipated after his most important ally was assassinated. It would be two decades after Dwight’s training before a Black astronaut finally made it to space; another 12 years before a Black astronaut would perform a spacewalk.