10 Most Important Episodes Of Star Trek: The Original Series

While the kiss shared by Kirk and Uhura in Plato's Stepchildren May not have actually been the first televised interracial kiss as it was once considered, it was still a crucial forerunner. To this day, there is still debate over who exactly has a claim to the accolade, however, the fact remains that the one portrayed in this 1968 Star Trek episode is still an important landmark.

When you consider just how tempestuous a time it was for race relations in the United States, with African-Americans rarely being portrayed on television, much less in a positive light or in positions of power, a black commander sharing a kiss with a white captain on national television was completely unheard of. Nonetheless, Star Trek went there.

And it's not like it was a spur-of-the-moment decision added for shock value either. It's something that those in charge of the show had to fight NBC tooth and nail to be able to broadcast.

In turn, Plato's Stepchildren serves as a testament to just how dedicated to forward thinking Star Trek was and while there may forever be an asterisk next to it in the history books, the fact remains that it still made history.