Page 59 - The 'X' Chronicles Newspaper - September 2021

Star Trek - TV’s First Interracial Kiss 59

TV’s First Interracial Kiss

Launched a Lifelong

Career in Activism

The career arc of Nichelle
Nichols—the first black woman

to have a continuing co-starring
role on TV—shows how diverse

casting can have as much of an
impact off the screen as it does
on it.

by Matthew Delmont

On Nov. 22, 1968, an episode of “Star Trek”
titled “ Plato’s Stepchildren” broadcast the first
interracial kiss on American television.
would “broaden her race’s foothold on the tube.” Welsh, Cherokee Indian and a ‘blond blue-eyed
ancestor or two.’”
The episode’s plot is bizarre: Aliens who
The magazine Ebony featured Nichols on its
worship the Greek philosopher Plato use
January 1967 cover and described Uhura as “the Space Crusader
telekinetic powers to force the Enterprise crew
first Negro astronaut, a triumph of modern-day
to sing, dance and kiss. At one point, the aliens
TV over modern-day NASA.” But Nichols’s legacy would be defined by far
compel Lieutenant Uhura (Nichelle Nichols)
more than a kiss.
and Captain Kirk (William Shatner) to embrace.
Yet the famous kiss between Uhura and Kirk
Each character tries to resist, but eventually Kirk
almost never happened. After NBC canceled Star Trek in 1969, Nichols
tilts Uhura back and the two kiss as the aliens
took minor acting roles on two television series,
lasciviously look on.
After the first season of “Star Trek” concluded “ Insight” and “ The D.A.” She would also play
in 1967, Nichols considered quitting after being a madame in the 1974 blaxploitation film “
The smooch is not a romantic one. But in 1968
offered a role on Broadway. She had started her Truck Turner.”
to show a black woman kissing a white man was
career as a singer in New York and always
a daring move.
dreamed of returning to the Big Apple. She also started to dabble in activism and
education. In 1975, Nichols established Women
The episode aired just one year after the U.S.
But at a NAACP fundraiser in Los Angeles, she in Motion, Inc. and won several government
Supreme Court’s Loving v. Virginia decision
ran into Martin Luther King Jr. contracts to produce educational programs
struck down state laws against interracial
related to space and science. By 1977, she had
marriage. At the time, Gallup polls showed that
Nichols would later recount their interaction. been appointed to the board of directors of the
fewer than 20 percent of Americans approved of
National Space Institute, a civil space advocacy
such relationships.
“You must not leave,” King told her. “You have organization.
opened a door that must not be allowed to
As a historian of civil rights and media, I’ve
close…you changed the face of television That year she gave a speech at the institute’s
been fascinated by the woman at the center of
forever…For the first time, the world sees us as annual meeting, “New Opportunities for the
this landmark television moment. Casting
we should be seen, as equals, as intelligent Humanization of Space, or Space: What’s in it
Nichelle Nichols as Lieutenant Uhura created
people.” for Me?” In it, she critiqued the lack of women
possibilities for more creative and socially
and minorities in the astronaut corps,
relevant “Star Trek” storylines.
King went on to say that he and his family were challenging NASA to “come down from your
fans of the show; she was a “hero” to his ivory tower of intellectual pursuit, because the
But just as significant is Nichols’s off-screen
children. next Einstein might have a Black face – and
activism. She leveraged her role on “Star Trek”
she’s female.”
to become a recruiter for NASA, where she
With King’s encouragement, Nichols stayed on
pushed for change in the space program. Her
“Star Trek” for the original series’ full three-year Several of NASA’s top administrators were in
career arc shows how diverse casting on the
run. the audience. They invited her to lead an
screen can have a profound impact in the real
astronaut recruitment program for the new space
world, too.
Nichols’ controversial kiss took place at the end shuttle program. Soon, she packed her bags and
of the third season. Nichols recalled that NBC began traveling the country, visiting high
‘A Triumph of Modern-Day TV’
executives closely monitored the filming schools and colleges, speaking with professional
because they were nervous about how Southern organizations and legislators, and appearing on
In 1966, “Star Trek” creator Gene Rodenberry
television stations and viewers would react. national television programs such as “Good
decided to cast Nichelle Nichols to play
Morning America.”
Lieutenant Uhura, a translator and
After the episode aired, the network did receive
communications officer from the United States
an outpouring of letters from viewers – and the In her 1994 autobiography, “ Beyond Uhura,”
of Africa. In doing so, he made Nichols the first
majority were positive. Nichols recalled that in the seven months before
African-American woman to have a continuing
the recruitment program began, “NASA had
co-starring role on television.
In 1982, Nichols would tell the Baltimore Afro- received only 1,600 applications, including
American that she was amused by the amount of fewer than 100 from women and 35 from
The African-American press was quick to heap
attention the kiss generated, especially because minority candidates.”
praise on Nichols’s pioneering role.
her own heritage was “a blend of races that
includes Egyptian, Ethiopian, Moor, Spanish, (Continued on Page 60)
The Norfolk Journal and Guide hoped that it