In addition to my work with The Laurel History Boys, I do historical research as a consultant. Most of my clients are filmmakers and book authors, and I’ve been fortunate enough to work for both a Pulitzer Prize winner and an Oscar winner. The majority of the films I’ve worked on are documentaries, including the latest, The Space Race.
The Space Race was produced by the Kennedy/Marshall Company (who my contract was with) for National Geographic Documentary Films. The film explores the Black pioneers in NASA’s astronaut corps, many of whom are unknown to the general public. The stories of these Black pilots, engineers, and scientists who became astronauts and the struggles they endured to get there are the focus of the film.
Ed Dwight’s Story
In the film, wrapped around the stories of the astronauts who flew in space, is the story of Ed Dwight—who didn’t get to fly in space—despite his being anointed the first Black astronaut by the Kennedy administration in the early 1960s.
At that time, Air Force Captain Ed Dwight was a test pilot at Edwards Air Force Base, which produced numerous NASA astronauts in its early days. Dwight was piloting supersonic jets at Edwards and training in the Aerospace Research Pilot School, run by Chuck Yeager. When he applied to NASA to join the astronaut corps, his application was championed by the Kennedy administration, which had made civil rights a major campaign issue.
His application was also championed by Whitney Young, executive director of the National Urban League, who sent Dwight around the country on speaking tours and arranged interviews for him. He became a celebrity as “the first Negro astronaut.”
“I received about 1,500 pieces of mail a week, which were stored in large containers at Edwards Air Force Base. Some of it came to my mother in Kansas City,” Dwight told Smithsonian Magazine. “Most of my mail was just addressed to ‘Astronaut Dwight, Kansas City, Kansas’.”
But there’s a big difference between training for space flight and being accepted into NASA’s astronaut corps. Every step of the way, Dwight encountered prejudice and resistance to his becoming an astronaut. With Kennedy’s assassination in 1963, Dwight’s chance to be an astronaut evaporated, with no explanation.
They Did Fly
The film also tells the stories of the Black pioneers who were accepted into the astronaut corps and did fly into space.
It wasn’t until 20 years later that astronaut Guion Bluford, as a crew member aboard the eighth Space Shuttle flight in 1983, became the first Black astronaut to fly in space. In addition to Bluford, the film traces the careers of astronauts Ron McNair, who died on the Space Shuttle Challenger in 1986; Fred Gregory, who became a NASA Deputy Administrator; Charlie Bolden, who rose to become NASA’s first Black Administrator; and others.
Premiere at DC/DOX Festival
Researchers are pretty far down the totem pole of crew members on a film. By the time my name appears on the credits, most people have left the theater (or switched the channel if it’s on a streaming service). But there have been two exceptions when the filmmakers asked me to appear in their shows. (It was not much of a stretch appearing as “Kevin Leonard, Researcher.”) I was in two episodes of The Tesla Files on the History Channel and on an episode of American Detective with Lt. Joe Kenda, which was about a murder in Laurel in the 1980s. My experience (if you can call it that since I had no idea what I was doing) filming those shows is a story for another day.
So it was quite a surprise when Alexandra Bowen, one of the producers of The Space Race, invited me and my wife to the DC premiere as part of the DC/DOX Film Festival. The film was shown a week earlier in New York City as part of the Tribeca Film Festival. It was the first time I had been invited to the premiere of any film I had contributed to. Alex introduced me to the film’s directors, Diego Hurtado de Mendoza and Lisa Cortes. (It shows how low on the totem pole we are since I had never met them, despite working for months on the film.) I was thrilled when Diego complimented me on my research.
It was shown in the theater in the Martin Luther King Library in downtown DC. We arrived early because, well, once again, we had no idea what we were doing. But it was fortuitous because also arriving early were two of the astronauts featured in the film: Ed Dwight and Charlie Bolden.
Ed Dwight came in first, an elderly gentleman in a NASA jacket, and he, his wife, and son sat down next to me. I asked if he was an astronaut and then apologized that I didn’t recognize him. He laughed when I explained that all the photos and films of him that I uncovered in my research were from about 60 years ago. He was a joy to talk with—full of stories yet totally unpretentious. As we talked, he confided in me that the darker side of his story was not part of the film (and was a topic new to me). He told me that after Kennedy died, and his champion in the White House was gone, a smear campaign against him was launched in the government and military. Lies and gossip—with racial prejudice—denied his dream of becoming an astronaut.
He also talked about his career as a sculptor since he left the military. He made it sound like a hobby. But, as I learned later watching the film, he is a world-renowned sculptor with artwork all over the country. Google “Ed Dwight sculpture” to see some of his remarkable art.
A short while later, Charlie Bolden and his wife arrived. He was just as unpretentious (“Call me Charlie”) and full of stories as Ed Dwight. Here was a guy that not only flew as an astronaut but later in his career was appointed head of NASA by President Barack Obama. He was stationed in Japan for a period during his military career and talked with my wife, Vicki, about living in Japan. (She grew up in Japan because her father was career NSA.) He also made it a point to tell me what an inspiration Ed Dwight was to him and all the other Black astronauts.
The lobby had mostly filled up when a buzz became apparent: Bill Nye the Science Guy walked in and came over to us (still talking with Dwight and Bolden) to talk with the astronauts. He seemed oblivious to the many people aiming their phones at him to snap a picture.
Finally, it was time to take our seats and watch the film. It did not disappoint. The crowd loved it and was further entertained with a Q&A session after with the film’s directors, Dwight, Bolden, and two current astronauts.
All in all, it was a wonderful evening for us. I was honored to be invited but incredibly humbled to talk with two inspirational—yet unpretentious—heroes from America’s space race.
Kevin Leonard is a founding member of the Laurel History Boys and a two-time winner of the Maryland Delaware District of Columbia Press Association Journalism Award.
Comments