Captain Kirk and Lieutenant Uhura’s kiss on Star Trek is remembered as one of the first interracial kisses between lead characters on an American series and as a landmark in television history. The scene aired on NBC on November 22, 1968, in an episode in which Captain Kirk kissed Lieutenant Uhura, a Black woman.
The kiss occurred under the influence of telepathic powers wielded by aliens who manipulated both of their wills. The filming was marked by tension: there was fear that local stations in the Southern states would refuse to air the episode.
For that reason, NBC censors attempted to film an alternate version. William Shatner, the actor who played Kirk, boycotted the proposal and refused to offer them a version without a kiss.
In the same episode, Kirk uttered a very significant line: “Where I come from, size, shape, or color doesn’t matter”.
Nichelle Nichols Almost Left the Show
The scene wouldn’t have been possible to shoot if Nichelle Nichols, the African-American actress who played Uhura, had gone through with her plan to leave the series in 1966, after the first season. She wanted to work on Broadway, because she felt a stronger pull toward musical theater.
Martin Luther King convinced her to stay. At a fundraiser in Beverly Hills, he explained to her that Star Trek was the only television show for which he and his wife allowed their children to stay up past their usual bedtime.
“En ella, por primera vez, somos vistos cada día en televisión como debe ser: como personas inteligentes, de calidad y bellas que pueden viajar al espacio”.
The civil rights leader told her directly that she could not leave the series.
