The kiss, which aired in November 1968, was a big deal at the time, as anything involving race was controversial for television.
Someone else who thought Star Trek was on the right track with Uhura was Dr. Martin Luther King, who persuaded Nichols to stay on the show. “I met Dr. King at a fundraiser and he told me that I was one of the most important people in his family. That they watched Star Trek and that I was a role model and their hero. And I said I said I was very proud of that and that was very nice, and then I told him that I was [considering] leaving the show, and he said abruptly – ‘You can not! You absolutely must not. Do you know that you have the first non-stereotypical role on television? You’re a first. This is not a female role. This is not a black role. This is a quality role, and this is an equal role, and it is in a command position. You have to carry on, because not only do little black children and do women see you and aspire and do you have meaning for them, but everyone else sees us for the first time the way we are supposed to be – on an equal basis, and on a level of dignity and authority and with the highest of qualifications.'”
Star Trek aired on NBC from September 8, 1966 to June 3, 1969. Just remember the timing, we (humanity) don’t yet have a launch vehicle to transport human beings beyond low Earth orbit. That did not happen until the launch of the first Saturn V rocket and Apollo 8 mission, that was the first time humanity had a destination other than Earth. We traveled to the far side of the Moon and returned to Earth – not landing to the Moon, we’re not yet ready to do that. And on December 24, 1968, the crew of Apollo 8 were the first humans to witness Earthrise over the Moon. Just imagine our blue planet seen as one globe against the darkness of space. Every thought, every word spoken, every life lived and everything humanity had experienced to this point was on that globe now pictured for the first time. That one image informed us that we are one humanity.
Forget the storylines, Star Trek was about a future were all races, cultures and nationalities were equals. Just imagine an American audience in 1966 were invited to see a Black, a Black female, a Black female Officer as an equal. Also a Japanese American Officer – less than one generation after ending WWII with the bombing of the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan were conducted by the United States during the final stages of World War II in August 1945 and internment of over 110,000 Japanese Americans in “War Relocation Camps”. And a Russian whom we were still at cold war with, which during the Cuban missile crisis brought us to the brick of war.
Star Trek was about dreaming of a better future and all of humanity coming together realizing we all live on this one rock we call Earth.
The crew of Apollo 8 were the first humans to witness Earthrise, on December 24, 1968
alloflondonismyplayground# 