On this Juneteenth Holiday, I would like to acknowledge a special moment for a particular person and very deserving of it too.
Juneteenth (June 19) is an event in history from 1865, when freedom finally came to enslaved people in Texas.
This, two years after President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863.
The proclamation declared "that all persons held as slaves" within the rebellious states "are, and henceforward shall be free."
Since 1865, there have been many moments in history that advanced the cause of freedom and gave more and more justice to all facets of life in societies to the African American people, but injustice, prejudice, systematic racism, inequity (and more), have not ceased and sadly, even continue to this day.
But this person I want to speak of, the one that so deserved what he recently experienced, a dream of his that had faded over the decades, but reignited just recently, is Ed Dwight.
Although nothing to do with slavery, but more of the unfairness, and racism of the 1960s, one month ago today, on May 19, Ed Dwight, an African American, flew to space with a Blue Origin spaceflight.
In the 1960s, he was supposed to be the first Black astronaut to go to space, selected by the Kennedy administration, but that never materialized back then.
But exactly one month ago, Ed Dwight did go to space and officially became the oldest person to do so (beating William Shatner who held that title for a short time).
Ed Dwight is not the first African American astronaut, by far... The first was in the 1980s - and many African American women and men got that opportunity too.
So, this is not a "first in history" story. But a "long-time-waiting" story, and to a person so deserving of this.
Nobody really knows the true story why he ended up not going to space back then, but it finally did happened for him, and Ed Dwight was 90 years young when he did fly to space!
This spaceflight happened thanks to the sponsorship and partnership of Blue Origin and Space for Humanity! What a generous gesture. One for Ed but also, it has been so inspiring for so many!
I can't make this story more interesting or emotional than it really is, but I strongly recommend the film 'The Space Race', which chronicles what happened in the 1960s to present time, and, "weaves together the stories of Black astronauts seeking to break the bonds of social injustice to reach for the stars, including Guion Bluford, Ed Dwight and Charles Bolden, among many others."
And in that film, all about Black astronauts and their history, does not even speak of the future event where Ed Dwight gets to go to space!! It hadn't yet been announced!
Juneteenth is a celebration not of the end of something that once happened in history, but the acknowledgment of it, the regular steps forwards taken to advance the cause of justice, fairness, equity for all.
The celebrated launch and landing back on Earth of Ed Dwight on May 19, 2024, inspired so many, from industry leaders within the space industry to young people looking on, and that is a step forward!
An impossible thought, but just imagine if those enslaved people back in the 1880 could see the future, not only of the sci-fi-like lives we lead on Earth and that we are able to venture out to space (!!), but more importantly, that their future generations will be free, equal and powerful, and able to do things like go to space and be celebrated for it.
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