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Speaker 1: Welcome to Brainstuff production of iHeart Radio, Hey brain Stuff,

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Speaker 1: Lauren bog Obam here. Star Trek has one of the

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Speaker 1: most passionate fan bases of any entertainment franchise in American history,

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Speaker 1: and among our ranks is no less than Dr Martin

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Speaker 1: Luther King Jr. Who actually had a lasting influence on

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Speaker 1: the show. Nachelle Nichols, an African American woman, played communications

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Speaker 1: officer Lieutenant Nyota Uhura on the original TV series in

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Speaker 1: the nineteen sixties. Her role had immense cultural significance because,

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Speaker 1: in an era that severely lacked black representation and opportunity,

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Speaker 1: it showed a black woman working as an integral member

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Speaker 1: of the crew of the Starship Enterprise. She was the

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Speaker 1: first African American in a lead role in a TV series.

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Speaker 1: The name Ahura was based on a Swahili word for freedom, huru.

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Speaker 1: A show creator, Geane Roddenberry, was determined to create a

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Speaker 1: multi race cast, something rare at that time in American television. However,

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Speaker 1: Nichol's portrayal of the lieutenant was almost short lived. Her

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Speaker 1: background was in theater. After the first season of Star Trek,

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Speaker 1: she was approached with the opportunity to return to the

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Speaker 1: stage and decided to take it, but fate had other plans.

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Speaker 1: Rod and Barry was upset to see her go and

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Speaker 1: asked her to take the weekend to mull over her decision.

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Speaker 1: During that time, she went to an n DOUBLE a

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Speaker 1: CP fundraiser in Beverly Hills, where she was approached by

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Speaker 1: perhaps surprising fan. Here's how she recalled the meeting in

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Speaker 1: NPR and I turned and before I could get up,

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Speaker 1: I looked across the way and there was the face

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Speaker 1: of Dr Martin Luther King smiling at me and walking

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Speaker 1: towards me, and he started laughing. By the time he

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Speaker 1: reached me, he said, Yes, Miss Nichols, I'm your greatest fan.

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Speaker 1: I am that trekky. King informed her that Star Trek

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Speaker 1: was the only show he allowed his kids to stay

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Speaker 1: up and watch, and that not only was he a fan,

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Speaker 1: he was deeply moved by what Nichols represented with the

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Speaker 1: civil rights movement in full swing, King found it to

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Speaker 1: be of utmost importance that Nichols continue to set a

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Speaker 1: positive example of an African American woman in a position

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Speaker 1: of leadership on TV. Nichols detailed her feelings after the

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Speaker 1: conversation for Reddit a m a, she said. Dr Martin

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Speaker 1: Luther King said something along the lines of, if you leave,

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Speaker 1: they can replace you with a blonde haired white girl,

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Speaker 1: and it will be like you were never there. What

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Speaker 1: you've accomplished for all of us will only be real

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Speaker 1: if you stay. That got me thinking about how it

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Speaker 1: would look for fans of color around the country if

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Speaker 1: they saw me leave. I saw that this was bigger

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Speaker 1: than just me. Nichols continued presence on the show cemented

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Speaker 1: Lieutenant Hoa as a cultural icon and science fiction and

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Speaker 1: American pop culture. If not for King's insistence and Nichols

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Speaker 1: changing her mind, we may never have gotten one of

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Speaker 1: the most important scene in TV history. In the show's

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Speaker 1: third and final season. NBC aired the episode Plato's Stepchildren

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Speaker 1: on November twenty two of nineteen sixty eight, seven months

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Speaker 1: after King was assassinated. The episode was groundbreaking as it

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Speaker 1: featured the first interracial kiss between William Shatner's Captain Kirk

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Speaker 1: and nichols Lieutenant Ahura seen on mainstream US television. The

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Speaker 1: very first had occurred in nineteen sixty two in a

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Speaker 1: televised version of the play You and Your Small Corner,

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Speaker 1: but it was not widely aired. Keep in mind that

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Speaker 1: this kiss on Star Trek was only seventeen months after

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Speaker 1: the Supreme Court struck down laws that banned into racial

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Speaker 1: marriage in their decision in the case of Loving versus Virginia.

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Speaker 1: This television moment might seem small now, but it was

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Speaker 1: a continuation of what doctor King hoped for Nichols and

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Speaker 1: her character. He knew back in the show's first season

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Speaker 1: that Nichols had the ability to continue to break barriers

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Speaker 1: and redefined beliefs about race in America. Today's episode was

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Speaker 1: written by David Dennis and produced by Tyler Clang. For

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Speaker 1: more on this and lots of other topics, visit how

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Speaker 1: Stuff works dot com. Brain Stuff is production by Heart Radio.

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Speaker 1: favorite shows.