"Star Trek": the first interracial kiss in TV history

PODCAST

Aliens, pointy ears and a kiss that made television history.

This week, in SERIELAND, Clémence Olivier takes you behind the scenes of a science fiction series ahead of its time: Star Trek. 

To talk to you about the representation of blacks in the series, I could have mentioned

or

the series adapted from the eponymous film by Spike Lee.

But while looking, I came across a story that I absolutely must tell you… .It concerns

! 

Talking about Captain Kirk, Mr. Spock and their journey to discover the universe that began in 1966, it may seem strange.

Yet it is not so far-fetched!

Because Star Trek is the first series to feature an interracial kiss on television in the United States.

In this case a kiss between a white man, Captain Kirk and a black woman, Lieutenant Uhura, in charge of communications on board the vessel. 

A real event

This scene may seem trivial today.

However, when it was broadcast in 1968 on the American channel NBC, it was a real event!

Americans cannot believe their eyes.

The supporters of racial segregation fail to choke on their television sets.

As for black women, they are starting to tell themselves that another, freer, more egalitarian world is possible. 

At the time, the Civil Rights Act, which prohibited any form of racial segregation, was only a few years old.

A few months before the episode's release, in April 1968, Martin Luther King was assassinated.

And at the time of broadcast, in November, marriages between white and black people were still banned in many states.

We understand better why a simple kiss had the effect of a shock. 

Nichelle Nichols almost quit the show before it happened

This kiss was desired by

creator

Gene Roddenberry.

It's a little miracle.

For it to take place, the planets had to align.

The actress who played Lieutenant Uhura, Nichelle Nichols, who was part of the crew early on, almost left the show before it happened.

She was fed up with staring in Star Trek.

At that time her career took off, she sang with Duke Ellington, played in a play by James Baldwin and dreamed of other galaxies.

In 1967, she even announced to the producers her intention to leave after the 1st season. 

But a man convinces her otherwise.

And not just any.

This is Martin Luther King, the leader of the black American civil rights movement.

For him, the actress is a symbol because she is the first black woman to play a major role in a television series.

To renounce would therefore be to disservice the cause.

The argument convinces Nichelle Nichols.

She continues the adventure ... 

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Blocking NBC

But another obstacle stands in the way of the creator of Star Trek who dreams of seeing a black woman and a white man kiss on TV: It's NBC.

The producers refuse that an interracial kiss is part of the storyline of the series.

And it doesn't matter if in the episode the two characters are made to kiss because nasty aliens forced them to do so ...

So when they realize that the kiss between Kirk and Uhura has just been shot, they are furious.

They demand that another scene, without a hug, be immediately recorded.

But the creator of Star Trek, the director David Alexander and the two actors do not disassemble.

They are cunning.

They make it out to miss all the new takes.

And their ploy works.

NBC just has to give in.

The kiss will be broadcast, before a bewildered America.

A cult scene

This sequence seen by tens of millions of Americans is now a cult scene.

It marked the history of television and history itself.

She paved the way for more diversity on the screen… Above all, she made it clear to a little black girl that becoming an actress was possible.

That little girl was Whoopi Goldberg. 

Star Trek, the original series (1966-1969)

3 seasons, 79 episodes of 52 minutes

Available on DVD