On Nov. 22, 1968, an episode of \u201cStar Trek\u201d titled \u201cPlato\u2019s Stepchildren<\/a>\u201d broadcast the first interracial kiss on American television.<\/p>\n The episode\u2019s plot is bizarre: Aliens who worship the Greek philosopher Plato use telekinetic powers to force the Enterprise crew to sing, dance and kiss. At one point, the aliens compel Lieutenant Uhura (Nichelle Nichols) and Captain Kirk (William Shatner) to embrace. Each character tries to resist, but eventually Kirk tilts Uhura back and the two kiss as the aliens lasciviously look on.<\/p>\n The smooch is not a romantic one. But in 1968 to show a black woman kissing a white man was a daring move.<\/p>\n The episode aired just one year after the U.S. Supreme Court\u2019s Loving v. Virginia decision struck down state laws against interracial marriage. At the time, Gallup polls showed that fewer than 20 percent of Americans approved of such relationships<\/a>.<\/p>\n As a historian of civil rights and media, I\u2019ve been fascinated by the woman at the center of this landmark television moment. Casting Nichelle Nichols as Lieutenant Uhura created possibilities for more creative and socially relevant \u201cStar Trek\u201d storylines.<\/a><\/p>\n But just as significant is Nichols\u2019s off-screen activism. She leveraged her role on \u201cStar Trek\u201d to become a recruiter for NASA, where she pushed for change in the space program. Her career arc shows how diverse casting on the screen can have a profound impact in the real world, too.<\/p>\n In 1966, \u201cStar Trek\u201d creator Gene Rodenberry decided to cast Nichelle Nichols to play Lieutenant Uhura, a translator and communications officer from the United States of Africa. In doing so, he made Nichols the first African-American woman to have a continuing co-starring role on television.<\/p>\n The African-American press was quick to heap praise on Nichols\u2019s pioneering role.<\/p>\n The Norfolk Journal and Guide<\/em> hoped that it would \u201cbroaden her race\u2019s foothold on the tube.\u201d<\/p>\n The magazine Ebony<\/em> featured Nichols on its January 1967 cover<\/a> and described Uhura as \u201cthe first Negro astronaut, a triumph of modern-day TV over modern-day NASA.\u201d<\/p>\n Yet the famous kiss between Uhura and Kirk almost never happened.<\/p>\n After the first season of \u201cStar Trek\u201d concluded in 1967, Nichols considered quitting after being offered a role on Broadway. She had started her career as a singer in New York and always dreamed of returning to the Big Apple.<\/p>\n But at a NAACP fundraiser in Los Angeles, she ran into Martin Luther King Jr.<\/p>\n Nichols would later recount their interaction.<\/p>\n \u201cYou must not leave,\u201d King told her<\/a>. \u201cYou have opened a door that must not be allowed to close\u2026you changed the face of television forever\u2026For the first time, the world sees us as we should be seen, as equals, as intelligent people.\u201d<\/p>\n King went on to say that he and his family were fans of the show; she was<\/a> a \u201chero\u201d to his children.<\/p>\n With King\u2019s encouragement, Nichols stayed on \u201cStar Trek\u201d for the original series\u2019 full three-year run.<\/p>\n Nichols\u2019 controversial kiss took place at the end of the third season. Nichols recalled<\/a> that NBC executives closely monitored the filming because they were nervous about how Southern television stations and viewers would react.<\/p>\n After the episode aired, the network did receive an outpouring of letters from viewers \u2013 and the majority were positive<\/a>.<\/p>\n In 1982, Nichols would tell the Baltimore Afro-American<\/em> that she was amused by the amount of attention the kiss generated, especially because her own heritage was \u201ca blend of races that includes Egyptian, Ethiopian, Moor, Spanish, Welsh, Cherokee Indian and a \u2018blond blue-eyed ancestor or two.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n But Nichols\u2019s legacy would be defined by far more than a kiss.<\/p>\n After NBC canceled Star Trek in 1969, Nichols took minor acting roles on two television series, \u201cInsight<\/a>\u201d and \u201cThe D.A.<\/a>\u201d She would also play a madame in the 1974 blaxploitation film \u201cTruck Turner<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n She also started to dabble in activism and education. In 1975, Nichols established Women in Motion, Inc. and won several government contracts to produce educational programs related to space and science. By 1977, she had been appointed to the board of directors of the National Space Institute<\/a>, a civil space advocacy organization.<\/p>\n That year she gave a speech at the institute\u2019s annual meeting, \u201cNew Opportunities for the Humanization of Space, or Space: What\u2019s in it for Me?\u201d In it, she critiqued the lack of women and minorities in the astronaut corps, challenging NASA<\/a> to \u201ccome down from your ivory tower of intellectual pursuit, because the next Einstein might have a Black face \u2013 and she\u2019s female.\u201d<\/p>\n Several of NASA\u2019s top administrators were in the audience. They invited her to lead an astronaut recruitment program for the new space shuttle program. Soon, she packed her bags and began traveling the country, visiting high schools and colleges, speaking with professional organizations and legislators, and appearing on national television programs such as \u201cGood Morning America.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe aim was to find qualified people among women and minorities, then to convince them that the opportunity was real and that it also was a duty, because this was historic,\u201d Nichols told the Baltimore Afro-American<\/em> in 1979. \u201cI really had this sense of purpose about it myself.\u201d<\/p>\n In her 1994 autobiography, \u201cBeyond Uhura<\/a>,\u201d Nichols recalled that in the seven months before the recruitment program began, \u201cNASA had received only 1,600 applications, including fewer than 100 from women and 35 from minority candidates.\u201d But by the end of June 1977, \u201cjust four months after we assumed our task, 8,400 applications were in, including 1,649 from women (a 15-fold increase) and an astounding 1,000 from minorities.\u201d<\/p>\n Nichols\u2019s campaign recruited several trailblazing astronauts, including Sally Ride, the first American woman in space, Guion Bluford, the first African-American in space, and Mae Jemison, the first African-American woman in space.<\/p>\n Relentless advocacy for inclusion<\/p>\n Her advocacy for inclusion and diversity wasn\u2019t limited to the space program.<\/p>\n As one of the first black women in a major television role, Nichols understood the importance of opening doors for minorities and women in entertainment.<\/p>\n Nichols continued to push for African-Americans to have more power in film and television.<\/p>\n \u201cUntil we Blacks and minorities become not only the producers, writers and directors, but the buyers and distributors, we\u2019re not going to change anything,\u201d she told Ebony<\/em> in 1985<\/a>. \u201cUntil we become industry, until we control media or at least have enough say, we will always be the chauffeurs and tap dancers.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s an issue that, unfortunately, remains relevant today. In February of this year, UCLA\u2019s annual Hollywood Diversity Report<\/a> found that women and people of color continue to be underrepresented as directors and in studio board rooms. It concluded that \u201cHollywood studios are leaving money on the table by not developing films and TV shows with more diverse casts.\u201d<\/p>\n Fifty years ago, Nichols\u2019s kiss may have broken an important cultural barrier. But as Nichols well knows, the quest to secure opportunities for women and minorities persists to this day \u2013 an effort that requires relentless pressure.<\/p>\n The Conversation\u2019s new podcast \u201cHeat and Light<\/a>\u201d features Professor Delmont discussing this story in depth.<\/em>\u00a0This article was originally published on The Conversation.<\/a><\/em>\u2018A triumph of modern-day TV\u2019<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Space crusader<\/h2>\n
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