Nichols’s first appearances on “Star Trek” predated the 1968 sitcom “Julia,” in which Diahann Carroll, playing a widowed mother who works as a nurse, became the first Black woman to star in a non-stereotypical role in a network series.īut Uhura’s influence reached far beyond television. In a November 1968 episode, during the show’s third and final season, Captain Kirk and Lieutenant Uhura are forced to embrace by the inhabitants of a strange planet, resulting in what is widely thought to be the first interracial kiss in television history. Nichols was among the first Black women to have a leading role on a network television series, making her an anomaly on the small screen, which until that time had rarely depicted Black women in anything other than subservient roles. Uhura was an officer and a highly educated and well-trained technician who maintained a businesslike demeanor while performing her high-minded duties. Her role, however, was both substantial and historically significant. She was generally clad in a snug red doublet and black tights Ebony magazine called her the “most heavenly body in ‘Star Trek’” on its 1967 cover. Nichols provided a frisson of sexiness on the bridge of the Enterprise.
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