When Captain Kirk and Lieutenant Uhura kissed on screen in 1968, it made TV history. The kiss between the "Star Trek" characters, played by William Shatner and Nichelle Nichols, is widely regarded as one of American TV's first interracial kisses.
Star Trek: "Plato's Stepchildren" – Kirk and Uhura (1968)
A 1968 episode of Star Trek, "Plato's Stepchildren", which first aired on November 22, 1968, is often referred to as the first interracial kiss on television.
What was the first interracial kiss on network TV?
Answer. The first kiss between an African American and a White American occurred long before the invention of the television. The first Black-White kiss on American network television is often credited to the Star Trek episode, "Plato's Stepchildren," which first aired on November 22, 1968.
Who was the first black woman to kiss a white man on TV?
On a 1968 episode of “Star Trek,” Nichelle Nichols, playing Lt. Uhura, locked lips with William Shatner's Capt. Kirk in what's widely thought to be first kiss between a Black woman and white man on American television.
In "Plato's Stepchildren," which was broadcast in 1968, the kiss is involuntarily forced by psychokinesis. Shatner recalls in Star Trek Memories that NBC insisted their lips never touch, using the technique of turning their heads away from the camera to conceal this.
When Captain Kirk kissed Uhura on "Star Trek" in 1968, it was the first kiss between people of different races on television. In the video above, Eyewitness News explores the interracial kiss, the outraged reaction and how mixed couples at that time had to fight for their rights simply to love each other.
In the U.S., interethnic kisses happened on “I Love Lucy” between the Cuban Desi Arnaz and the white Lucille Ball in the 1950s and even on Star Trek in 1967 with Mexican actor Ricardo Montalban kissing Madlyn Rhue in the “Space Seed” episode.
“Something Good – Negro Kiss” is the first known film with footage featuring African Americans showing love. A short film shot in 1898, it shows two vaudeville performers, Gertie Brown and Saint Suttle, enacting a scene of affection and joy. For audiences back then, this was quite daring and bold.
While Lucy and Desi were trying to be discreet about their ages behind the scenes, the two wound up being revolutionaries in front of the cameras when I Love Lucy premiered in 1951. Lucy and Desi (who played Ricky Ricardo) reportedly became the first interracial couple to appear on television.
Roker portrayed Helen Willis on The Jeffersons, breaking social barriers by becoming one half of the first Caucasian-African-American married couple (along with actor Franklin Cover) as regular cast member on prime-time TV.
The Hays Code not only outlawed the portrayal of interracial relationships but also promoted racial stereotypes by misrepresenting non-white characters. African Americans, in particular, were often depicted as subservient, docile, and intellectually inferior to white characters.
Also, despite the infamous "first interracial kiss" moment, Star Trek never put those two characters together romantically. Even though he probably was "hitting on her" when introducing himself, Kirk quickly shifted his approach to being her friend and a good Starfleet officer.
None of the writers of the show seem to have had any inkling of a romantic pairing between Spock and Uhura. There was some tension between Spock and Nurse Chapel, but it was largely abandoned after the first season. The 2009 Star Trek movie reboot established Spock and Uhura as being in a relationship.
A former student of Spock's, Uhura is also romantically involved with him. In Star Trek, the ongoing comic book series by IDW Publishing, they are shown going on a date during her studies at the Academy.
African Americans have appeared on television as long as the medium has been around. In fact, the first Black person on TV may have been Broadway star Ethel Waters, who hosted a one-off variety show on NBC on June 14, 1939, when television was still being developed.
In 1939 Ethel Waters became the first black woman to have her own television show. In 1963 Cecily Tyson became the first to star in a television show. It was CBS' East Side/West Side. She played a secretary and was in 22 of the 26 episodes.
“Good Times” stood apart from Lear's other successful comedies because it featured, as Lear put it, the “first full black family on television.” I have been researching “Good Times” and other shows with primarily Black casts since 1989.
On October 15, 1951, Arnaz co-starred in the premiere of I Love Lucy, in which he played a fictionalized version of himself, Cuban orchestra leader Enrique "Ricky" Ricardo. His co-star was his real-life wife, Lucille Ball, who played Ricky's wife, Lucy.
I Love Lucy and The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour concluded in the aftermath of Arnaz and Ball's real-life divorce in 1960, an incident that was not written into the script. The characters remained married to each other at the end of the series' run.
Did the actors who played I Love Lucy get along in real life? Aside from the marital difficulties of Lucy and Desi, the actors who played the Mertzes, Vivian Vance and William Frawley, hated each other. For one thing, there was the 20-year age difference.
Star Trek: The Original Series writer David Gerrold, has also spoken about K/S slash sometimes. In 1985, Gerrold commented: One of the truths I've been telling lately is that Kirk and Spock are not lovers ... they're not even boyfriends. They're just good friends.
There is some debate whether Scotty and Uhura had a romantic relationship in canon, there were some scenes in the fifth movie, Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, that fans think indicated that Scotty and Uhura were in a relationship, but it is never stated explicitly in canon.
