Why are there no Black people in the original Star Trek series? Was this ever addressed?
Obviously the author of this question has never watched the show, because a nearly constant presence was Lt. Uhura, a black woman. And she wasn’t just a “light skinned” black person who looked like a white person with a tan, but someone who was clearly of African-American descent… and very beautiful, I might add, showing that a person of that ethnicity can be as good looking as any white woman.
The sad thing was that her role was under written, and she knew it. She felt that if her lines consisted of just opening “hailing” frequencies one more time, she was going to quit. Then she did decide to quit, until she was introduced to her biggest fan — Dr. Martin Luther King — who told her she COULDN’T quit…. because (and remember this was the 1960s!) people were finally seeing a black woman who wasn’t just a maid or a servant but a skilled professional. That sounds like nothing now. But in 1966 it was a big deal.
Fortunately, there were at least a few episodes where she got to do some real *acting*. The episode “Mirror, Mirror,” in which the GOOD Uhura got to interact with the EVIL Sulu was wonderful; they got to ACT. (Amusingly enough, we got to see that Sulu was “straight” at least when he was the evil Sulu! Anyway, I’m sure he loved it, because he actually got to act out a very dramatic scene.)
Uhura was used more in the first season, in which she got to sing “Beyond Antares” and other songs. But if you watch carefully… especially during that first season… there were plenty of non-white people in the background, as well as in the occasional speaking role.
But what I think was brilliant — brilliant because it got right past the networks, who never seemed to care much — is that in a number of episodes (especially “Court Martial”) the top brass in Starfleet had lots of men of color…. African, half-black, and Hispanics. It shows there was an intent on the show to make the 23rd century as non-racist as possible. Hey, they even had a green-blooded second-in-command!
Sexual liberation would have to wait, although notably the beautiful, talented actress Joanne Linville got to be the commander of a ship…. a Romulan ship! (I guess the Romulans are more enlightened than we are.) And in TNG we not only got to see high-ranking female officers, but female admirals in Starfleet as well.
