tag:theconversation.com,2011:/us/topics/heat-and-light-58814/articlesHeat and Light – The Conversation2018-12-19T20:25:05Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1085692018-12-19T20:25:05Z2018-12-19T20:25:05ZHow the ‘Heat and Light’ of 1968 still influence today: 3 essential reads<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/251600/original/file-20181219-45416-18aleoy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Protesters fill the streets outside the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>Editor’s note: As we come to the end of the year, Conversation editors take a look back at the stories that – for them – exemplified 2018.</em></p>
<p>This year, The Conversation US marked the 50th anniversary of 1968 with our first podcast, “<a href="https://heatandlightpod.com/">Heat and Light</a>.” Hosted by journalist Phillip Martin, the show explored lesser-known stories from that pivotal year through interviews with scholars who have dedicated their lives to studying them. Here are three of my favorite episodes that revealed surprising insights about how 1968 changed the course of history – and how it still shapes our world today.</p>
<h2>1. The first interracial kiss on American television</h2>
<p>On Nov. 28, 1968, the right for interracial couples’ <a href="https://www.oyez.org/cases/1966/395">to marry</a> in the U.S. was just over a year old. A majority of Americans still disapproved of <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/163697/approve-marriage-blacks-whites.aspx">marriages between whites and people of color</a>. On that day the science fiction show “Star Trek” broadcast the first <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RGxuU2vtBo">interracial kiss</a> on American television between William Shatner, a white man, and Nichelle Nichols, a black woman. Matt Delmont, professor of history at the Arizona State University, told us why this seemed so <a href="https://theconversation.com/tvs-first-interracial-kiss-launched-a-lifelong-career-in-activism-101721">far-fetched to the viewers of the day</a>, despite taking place in the future and on another planet, with the participants placed under mind control by aliens.</p>
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<p>However, as far as America has come toward normalizing interracial love, there is plenty of evidence that shows <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-do-americans-really-feel-about-interracial-couples-99173">these relationships are still not totally accepted</a>.</p>
<h2>2. The birth of Silicon Valley</h2>
<p>In the cascade of political and cultural milestones and anniversaries from 1968, it’s easy to overlook the fact that the year was a watershed moment for the technology industry. </p>
<p>Margaret O'Mara, a professor of history at the University of Washington, explained that 1968 can be thought of as the year the Santa Clara Valley in Northern California began its transformation into what is now known as the Silicon Valley. It was the year that saw the founding of microprocessor manufacturer Intel and the debut of the computer mouse at an event that would come to be known as the “<a href="https://theconversation.com/in-1968-computers-got-personal-how-the-mother-of-all-demos-changed-the-world-101654">Mother of All Demos</a>.” </p>
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<p>All of this innovation, however, came with consequences – including environmental degradation and rising income inequality – that still affect many residents of the former <a href="https://theconversation.com/silicon-valley-from-hearts-delight-to-toxic-wasteland-86983">“valley of heart’s delight.”</a> </p>
<h2>3. The protest movement … backfires?</h2>
<p>1968, much like 2018, was a year of protest. Across the country and around the world, people filled the streets to rail against the war in Vietnam and racial and economic inequality. <a href="https://theconversation.com/1968-protests-at-columbia-university-called-attention-to-gym-crow-and-got-worldwide-attention-102093">Students rose up</a> across the country. The <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-anti-trump-activists-can-learn-from-chicago-68-62741">Democratic National Convention in Chicago</a> dissolved into chaos and violence. Days of unrest followed the <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2018/04/the-riots-that-followed-the-assassination-of-martin-luther-king-jr/557159/">assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.</a> in April. </p>
<p>However, despite its reputation as a year of liberal, anti-establishment protest, 1968 was also the start of two decades of nearly unbroken Republican control of the presidency. Arizona State University history professor <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/donald-critchlow-180542">Donald Critchlow</a> explained how, as the left filled the streets across the country, they may have driven many <a href="https://theconversation.com/politicians-have-long-used-the-forgotten-man-to-win-elections-103570">voters concerned with “law and order”</a> to Richard Nixon and the Republican Party. </p>
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<p>Critchlow, himself a former member of the 1968 protest movement who has since drifted from radical leftist to conservative historian, says that this is a phenomenon that may repeat itself in 2020. It’s a lesson – and a warning – that those looking to <a href="https://theconversation.com/resistance-is-a-long-game-103298">resist the Trump administration</a> in 2019 may want to take to heart.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/108569/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
This year, The Conversation celebrated the 50th anniversary of 1968 with its first podcast, ‘Heat and Light.’ These are some of the most interesting stories we uncovered – ones that still resonate in 2018.Jonathan Gang, Editorial Researcher and Multimedia ProducerLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1039012018-09-26T00:54:57Z2018-09-26T00:54:57ZWhy God Votes Republican<p>The white Christian left was once a powerful influence on American politics, in an era when faith did not dictate political inclination. Then came the 1968 declaration against the Vietnam War by the National Council of Churches. President-elect Richard Nixon would later eschew liberal Christian leaders – and become the first of a series of presidents who built their base on the anxieties of white Christian conservatives. Phillip talks with professor Jill Gill of Boise State University in Idaho, whose parents were a conservative evangelical and a secular liberal. She tells us how evangelicals became synonymous with conservatism in today’s political landscape.</p>
<p><a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/heat-and-light/id1424521855?mt=2"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233721/original/file-20180827-75984-1gfuvlr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=268&fit=clip" alt="Listen on Apple Podcasts" width="268" height="68"></a> <a href="https://www.google.com/podcasts?feed=aHR0cHM6Ly9oZWF0YW5kbGlnaHRwb2QuY29tL2ZlZWQucnNz"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233720/original/file-20180827-75978-3mdxcf.png" alt="" width="268" height="68"></a></p>
<p><a href="https://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=221807&refid=stpr"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/236756/original/file-20180917-158222-1w998g0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=268&fit=clip" alt="Stitcher" width="268" height="80"></a> <a href="https://radiopublic.com/heat-and-light-WYDE55"><img class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-152" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233717/original/file-20180827-75990-86y5tg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=268&fit=clip" alt="Listen on RadioPublic" width="268" height="87"></a></p>
<p><a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/2pNAWvcME1HXB074Ys0dWM"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/237984/original/file-20180925-149976-1ks72uy.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=268&fit=clip" width="268" height="82"></a> <a href="https://tunein.com/podcasts/History-Podcasts/Heat-and-Light-p1149068/"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233723/original/file-20180827-75984-f0y2gb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=268&fit=clip" alt="Listen on TuneIn" width="268" height="105"></a></p>
<p>Also: <a href="https://heatandlightpod.com/feed.rss">RSS Feed</a></p>
<p><strong>Music:</strong> “And never come back” by Soft and Furious, found on <a href="http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Soft_and_Furious/You_know_where_to_find_me/Soft_and_Furious_-_You_know_where_to_find_me_-_06_And_never_come_back">FreeMusicArchive.org</a>, licensed under <a href="https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/">CC0 1</a></p>
<p><strong>Archival:</strong> <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b80Bsw0UG-U">Martin Luther King, “Why I Am Opposed to the War in Vietnam”</a></p>
<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGvcHIWIK6E&t=299s">Firing Line with William F. Buckley Jr.: The Role of the Church Militant</a></p>
<p><a href="http://credo.library.umass.edu/view/full/mums741-b227-i004">Lecture by William Sloane Coffin on the Vietnam War, November 19, 1972</a></p>
<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQyLHi_X83s">They’ll Know We Are Christians Peter Scholtes 1966</a></p>
<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvW_w_MDiJM">NIXON TAPES: Vietnam is Kennedy’s Fault (Billy Graham)</a></p>
<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YADvHEFAE28">LBJ and Martin Luther King, 11/5/64. 3.20p.</a></p>
<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6T4y1WDofK0">Ann Coulter - Godless: The Church of Liberalism</a></p>
<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IN05jVNBs64">President Obama sings Amazing Grace (C-SPAN)</a></p>
<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j06TTdKT64U">Obama links raising taxes to Christianity</a></p>
<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jNkSOe6dU0">Evangelicals turn on Trump over immigration</a></p>
<p>Read more: <a href="https://theconversation.com/anti-war-protests-50-years-ago-helped-mold-the-modern-christian-right-90802">Anti-war protests 50 years ago helped mold the modern Christian right</a></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/103901/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
In 1968 the Protestant Left lost its political clout over their opposition to the Vietnam War – and opened the door for the rise of the modern Religious Right.Phillip Martin, Podcast hostLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1033962018-09-17T19:58:23Z2018-09-17T19:58:23ZThe Mother of All Demos<p>A computer may have been the size of room in 1968, but it was still a watershed year for tech industry. That year saw the founding of the Intel Corporation that would revolutionize microprocessors and “the mother of all demos,” a landmark event that featured the first public demonstration of a computer mouse. Our guest, Margaret O’Mara, a professor of U.S. history at the University of Washington, became fascinated with the story of the Silicon Valley through a circuitous path that involved time spent in the White House and a close encounter with the Little Rock Nine. She tells Philip how this place, once a pastoral agricultural community, became a technological and economic powerhouse – and what that meant for the people who lived there. </p>
<p>Read more in this accompanying article from Margaret O'Mara:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/in-1968-computers-got-personal-how-the-mother-of-all-demos-changed-the-world-101654">In 1968, computers got personal: How the ‘mother of all demos’ changed the world</a></p>
<p><a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/heat-and-light/id1424521855?mt=2"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233721/original/file-20180827-75984-1gfuvlr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=268&fit=clip" alt="Listen on Apple Podcasts" width="268" height="68"></a> <a href="https://www.google.com/podcasts?feed=aHR0cHM6Ly9oZWF0YW5kbGlnaHRwb2QuY29tL2ZlZWQucnNz"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233720/original/file-20180827-75978-3mdxcf.png" alt="" width="268" height="68"></a></p>
<p><a href="https://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=221807&refid=stpr"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/236756/original/file-20180917-158222-1w998g0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=268&fit=clip" alt="Stitcher" width="268" height="80"></a> <a href="https://radiopublic.com/heat-and-light-WYDE55"><img class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-152" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233717/original/file-20180827-75990-86y5tg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=268&fit=clip" alt="Listen on RadioPublic" width="268" height="87"></a></p>
<p><a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/2pNAWvcME1HXB074Ys0dWM"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/237984/original/file-20180925-149976-1ks72uy.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=268&fit=clip" width="268" height="82"></a> <a href="https://tunein.com/podcasts/History-Podcasts/Heat-and-Light-p1149068/"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233723/original/file-20180827-75984-f0y2gb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=268&fit=clip" alt="Listen on TuneIn" width="268" height="105"></a></p>
<p>Also: <a href="https://heatandlightpod.com/feed.rss">RSS Feed</a></p>
<p><strong>Music:</strong> “By Grace” by Podington Bear, found on <a href="http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Podington_Bear/Inspiring/ByGrace">FreeMusicArchive.org</a>, licensed under <a href="https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/">CC0 1</a></p>
<p>“Motions” by Rafael Krux, found on <a href="https://freepd.com/upbeat.php#LinkToRevealHideComments">FreePD.com</a>, licensed under <a href="https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/">CC0 1</a></p>
<p><strong>Archival:</strong> <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vv85FSf_6vw">Mother of All Demos - The Mouse</a></p>
<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ARJ8cAGm6JE">HAL 9000: “I’m sorry Dave, I’m afraid I can’t do that”</a></p>
<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ARJ8cAGm6JE">The First Microprocessor TV Commercial</a></p>
<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UgkyrW2NiwM">Deactivating Hal 9000 HD (COMPLETE)</a></p>
<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSvT02q4h40&t=35s">Apple accused of failing to protect workers</a></p>
<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=az6JMnyBKck">The 68’ Salute</a></p>
<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=juwGJCTOSYQ&t=27s">It was my mistake’: Facebook CEO speaks out on privacy scandal</a></p>
<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IM0KNvVGmkU&t=12s">Jeff Bezos: The $100 Billion Dollar Man | CNBC</a></p>
<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2LMEJgXE84">The Disruptors: The ‘Uber effect’ on the Taxi Industry</a></p>
<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufNNuafuU7M">New video shows moments before fatal self-driving Uber crash</a></p>
<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xERXusiEszs&amp=&t=141s">The Little Rock 9 - Arkansas 1957</a></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/103396/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
In 1968 computers were the size of a room. But after the founding of Intel and the introduction of the mouse that year they would eventually fit in a pocket – and change the Silicon Valley forever.Phillip Martin, Podcast hostLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1029722018-09-10T20:53:45Z2018-09-10T20:53:45ZDetroit is Burning<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/235699/original/file-20180910-123122-1g7zk0v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A Detroit police officer makes an arrest during the riots of 1967.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/File</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>As 1968 began, the city of Detroit was dealing with the aftermath of some of the worst race riots the country had ever seen. That year, the Kerner Commission, appointed by president Lyndon Johnson, placed the blame squarely on the way the police and the city government had handled the response. In this episode, Jeffrey Horner, a professor of urban studies at Wayne State University, speaks with Phillip about how race and class divisions met with economic and social upheaval to shape the city as it tried to rebuild … and also how the city shaped them, as they themselves grew up in Detroit at the time.</p>
<p>Read more in this accompanying article from Jeffrey Horner:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/police-killings-of-3-black-men-left-a-mark-on-detroits-history-more-than-50-years-ago-101716">Police killings of 3 black men left a mark on Detroit’s history more than 50 years ago</a></p>
<p><a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/heat-and-light/id1424521855?mt=2"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233721/original/file-20180827-75984-1gfuvlr.png" alt="Listen on Apple Podcasts" width="268" height="68"></a> <a href="https://www.google.com/podcasts?feed=aHR0cHM6Ly9oZWF0YW5kbGlnaHRwb2QuY29tL2ZlZWQucnNz"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233720/original/file-20180827-75978-3mdxcf.png" alt="" width="268" height="68"></a></p>
<p><a href="https://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=221807&refid=stpr"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/236756/original/file-20180917-158222-1w998g0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=300&fit=clip" alt="Stitcher" width="300" height="90"></a> <a href="https://radiopublic.com/heat-and-light-WYDE55"><img class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-152" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233717/original/file-20180827-75990-86y5tg.png" alt="Listen on RadioPublic" width="300" height="97"></a></p>
<p><a href="https://tunein.com/podcasts/History-Podcasts/Heat-and-Light-p1149068/"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233723/original/file-20180827-75984-f0y2gb.png" alt="Listen on TuneIn" width="318" height="125"></a></p>
<p>Also: <a href="https://heatandlightpod.com/feed.rss">RSS Feed</a></p>
<p><strong>Music on this episode:</strong> Something to save" by Komiku, found on <a href="http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Komiku/Its_time_for_adventure__vol_2/Komiku_-_Its_time_for_adventure_vol_2_-_10_Something_to_save">FreeMusicArchive.org</a>, licensed under <a href="https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/">CC0 1</a></p>
<p>“This tuning is so dramatic” by Monplaisir, found on <a href="http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Monplaisir/Draft/Monplaisir_-_Draft_-_09_This_tuning_is_so_dramatic">FreeMusicArchive.org</a>, licensed under <a href="https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/">CC0 1</a></p>
<p><strong>Archival audio</strong>
<a href="https://keenerpodcast.com/?p=2713">WKNR Contact News - Detroit 1967</a></p>
<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZoU4cmRULKY">Address to the Nation Regarding Civil Disorder, 7/27/67. MP594.</a></p>
<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cCW58RCgqOQ&t=1551s">Racism in America Small Town 1950s Case Study Documentary Film</a></p>
<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SBsnDrp88Ak">Misconduct allegations mount inside Detroit Police Department</a></p>
<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYg3L_y1EhQ">Police misconduct costing Detroit millions of dollars</a></p>
<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKQxL1AOFgI">Ex-DPD officers charged with misconduct</a></p>
<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDYMpztd5uc">Detroit police officer charged with assault and misconduct in rough arrest at Meijer</a></p>
<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94e64G9ZFio&t=35s">Police brutality at Detroit Meijer 8 mile and Woodward</a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.worldcat.org/title/1967-detroit-riot-a-community-speaks/oclc/53865376">The Detroit 1967 Riots: A Community Speaks</a></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/102972/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
In 1967 race riots nearly tore Detroit apart. The next year, the Kerner Commission, appointed by president Lyndon Johnson, placed the blame on the way the police and had handled the response.Phillip Martin, Podcast hostLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1017212018-09-03T20:57:57Z2018-09-03T20:57:57ZTV’s first interracial kiss launched a lifelong career in activism<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233938/original/file-20180828-86141-n2d8cy.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Nervous about how southern television viewers would react, NBC executives closely monitored the filming of the kiss between Nichelle Nichols and William Shatner.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.publicdomainfiles.com/show_file.php?id=13498604414055">U.S. Air Force</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>On Nov. 22, 1968, an episode of “Star Trek” titled “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0708443/">Plato’s Stepchildren</a>” broadcast the first interracial kiss on American television. </p>
<p>The episode’s plot is bizarre: Aliens who worship the Greek philosopher Plato use telekinetic powers to force the Enterprise crew to sing, dance and kiss. At one point, the aliens compel Lieutenant Uhura (Nichelle Nichols) and Captain Kirk (William Shatner) to embrace. Each character tries to resist, but eventually Kirk tilts Uhura back and the two kiss as the aliens lasciviously look on. </p>
<p>The smooch is not a romantic one. But in 1968 to show a black woman kissing a white man was a daring move.</p>
<p>The episode aired just one year after the U.S. Supreme Court’s Loving v. Virginia decision struck down state laws against interracial marriage. At the time, Gallup polls showed that <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/163697/approve-marriage-blacks-whites.aspx">fewer than 20 percent of Americans approved of such relationships</a>. </p>
<p>As a historian of civil rights and media, I’ve been fascinated by the woman at the center of this landmark television moment. Casting Nichelle Nichols as Lieutenant Uhura created possibilities for more creative and socially relevant <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&view_op=list_works&authuser=2&gmla=AJsN-F5Tq3S07JaTym4ggipQ2ywifKwXWexcK4OKzMurZJvHMSp4Ay3a-7D2FrPLHlppsoEw7gbBOO8SRsu2uxvQ50GkEDmajw&user=tMLTqzcAAAAJ">“Star Trek” storylines.</a></p>
<iframe src="https://tunein.com/embed/player/t123871983" style="width:100%;height:100px;" scrolling="no" frameborder="no" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p><strong>Hear Prof. Delmont discuss this topic and how it has influenced his life’s studies on our <a href="https://heatandlightpod.com">Heat and Light podcast</a></strong></p>
<p>But just as significant is Nichols’s off-screen activism. She leveraged her role on “Star Trek” to become a recruiter for NASA, where she pushed for change in the space program. Her career arc shows how diverse casting on the screen can have a profound impact in the real world, too.</p>
<h2>‘A triumph of modern-day TV’</h2>
<p>In 1966, “Star Trek” creator Gene Rodenberry decided to cast Nichelle Nichols to play Lieutenant Uhura, a translator and communications officer from the United States of Africa. In doing so, he made Nichols the first African-American woman to have a continuing co-starring role on television.</p>
<p>The African-American press was quick to heap praise on Nichols’s pioneering role. </p>
<p>The Norfolk Journal and Guide hoped that it would “broaden her race’s foothold on the tube.” </p>
<p>The magazine Ebony featured Nichols <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=6iZkedjSfZoC&lpg=PA70&vq=%2522Nichelle%2520Nichols%2522&dq=%2522Nichelle%20Nichols%2522&pg=PA1#v=onepage&q&f=false">on its January 1967 cover</a> and described Uhura as “the first Negro astronaut, a triumph of modern-day TV over modern-day NASA.”</p>
<p>Yet the famous kiss between Uhura and Kirk almost never happened.</p>
<p>After the first season of “Star Trek” concluded in 1967, Nichols considered quitting after being offered a role on Broadway. She had started her career as a singer in New York and always dreamed of returning to the Big Apple. </p>
<p>But at a NAACP fundraiser in Los Angeles, she ran into Martin Luther King Jr.</p>
<p>Nichols would later recount their interaction. </p>
<p>“You must not leave,” <a href="https://youtu.be/pSq_UIuxba8">King told her</a>. “You have opened a door that must not be allowed to close…you changed the face of television forever…For the first time, the world sees us as we should be seen, as equals, as intelligent people.” </p>
<p>King went on to say that he and his family were fans of the show; <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/29/gene-roddenberry-son-star-trek_n_1119119.html">she was</a> a “hero” to his children.</p>
<p>With King’s encouragement, Nichols stayed on “Star Trek” for the original series’ full three-year run. </p>
<p>Nichols’ controversial kiss took place at the end of the third season. Nichols <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hKKkGhEDoU">recalled</a> that NBC executives closely monitored the filming because they were nervous about how Southern television stations and viewers would react.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/gRfRXcP1Gsg?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Nichelle Nichols recounts the reaction to filming the first interracial kiss on television.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>After the episode aired, the network did receive an outpouring of letters from viewers – <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRfRXcP1Gsg">and the majority were positive</a>. </p>
<p>In 1982, Nichols would tell the Baltimore Afro-American that she was amused by the amount of attention the kiss generated, especially because her own heritage was “a blend of races that includes Egyptian, Ethiopian, Moor, Spanish, Welsh, Cherokee Indian and a ‘blond blue-eyed ancestor or two.’”</p>
<h2>Space crusader</h2>
<p>But Nichols’s legacy would be defined by far more than a kiss.</p>
<p>After NBC canceled Star Trek in 1969, Nichols took minor acting roles on two television series, “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0053510/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">Insight</a>” and “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0066645/?ref_=fn_al_tt_2">The D.A.</a>” She would also play a madame in the 1974 blaxploitation film “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0072325/?ref_=nv_sr_1">Truck Turner</a>.” </p>
<p>She also started to dabble in activism and education. In 1975, Nichols established Women in Motion, Inc. and won several government contracts to produce educational programs related to space and science. By 1977, she had been appointed to the board of directors of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Space_Institute">National Space Institute</a>, a civil space advocacy organization.</p>
<p>That year she gave a speech at the institute’s annual meeting, “New Opportunities for the Humanization of Space, or Space: What’s in it for Me?” In it, she critiqued the lack of women and minorities in the astronaut corps, <a href="https://repository.si.edu/bitstream/handle/10088/30908/201302SH.pdf">challenging NASA</a> to “come down from your ivory tower of intellectual pursuit, because the next Einstein might have a Black face – and she’s female.”</p>
<p>Several of NASA’s top administrators were in the audience. They invited her to lead an astronaut recruitment program for the new space shuttle program. Soon, she packed her bags and began traveling the country, visiting high schools and colleges, speaking with professional organizations and legislators, and appearing on national television programs such as “Good Morning America.”</p>
<p>“The aim was to find qualified people among women and minorities, then to convince them that the opportunity was real and that it also was a duty, because this was historic,” Nichols told the Baltimore Afro-American in 1979. “I really had this sense of purpose about it myself.” </p>
<p>In her 1994 autobiography, “<a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=AbtNPgAACAAJ&dq=Beyond+Uhura&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiatNz-xpDdAhXCTN8KHdQ2AdwQ6AEIJzAA">Beyond Uhura</a>,” Nichols recalled that in the seven months before the recruitment program began, “NASA had received only 1,600 applications, including fewer than 100 from women and 35 from minority candidates.” But by the end of June 1977, “just four months after we assumed our task, 8,400 applications were in, including 1,649 from women (a 15-fold increase) and an astounding 1,000 from minorities.” </p>
<p>Nichols’s campaign recruited several trailblazing astronauts, including Sally Ride, the first American woman in space, Guion Bluford, the first African-American in space, and Mae Jemison, the first African-American woman in space.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233939/original/file-20180828-86153-6dakin.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233939/original/file-20180828-86153-6dakin.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233939/original/file-20180828-86153-6dakin.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233939/original/file-20180828-86153-6dakin.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233939/original/file-20180828-86153-6dakin.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=473&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233939/original/file-20180828-86153-6dakin.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=473&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233939/original/file-20180828-86153-6dakin.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=473&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Nichelle Nichols speaks after the Space Shuttle Endeavour landed at Los Angeles International Airport Friday in September 2012.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Space-Shuttle-Last-Stop/f4c443def09a428c91ddcc7d6e228dde/1/0">AP Photo/Reed Saxon</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Relentless advocacy for inclusion</h2>
<p>Her advocacy for inclusion and diversity wasn’t limited to the space program.</p>
<p>As one of the first black women in a major television role, Nichols understood the importance of opening doors for minorities and women in entertainment. </p>
<p>Nichols continued to push for African-Americans to have more power in film and television. </p>
<p>“Until we Blacks and minorities become not only the producers, writers and directors, but the buyers and distributors, we’re not going to change anything,” <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=7dgDAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PA150&ots=wbTFv3IH98&dq=nichelle%20nichols%20ebony%201985%20billy%20dee%20williams&pg=PA154#v=onepage&q=nichelle%20nichols%20ebony%201985%20billy%20dee%20williams&f=false">she told Ebony in 1985</a>. “Until we become industry, until we control media or at least have enough say, we will always be the chauffeurs and tap dancers.” </p>
<p>It’s an issue that, unfortunately, remains relevant today. In February of this year, UCLA’s <a href="http://newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/hollywood-diversity-report-2018-ucla">annual Hollywood Diversity Report</a> found that women and people of color continue to be underrepresented as directors and in studio board rooms. It concluded that “Hollywood studios are leaving money on the table by not developing films and TV shows with more diverse casts.”</p>
<p>Fifty years ago, Nichols’s kiss may have broken an important cultural barrier. But as Nichols well knows, the quest to secure opportunities for women and minorities persists to this day – an effort that requires relentless pressure.</p>
<p><em>Our new podcast “<a href="https://heatandlightpod.com">Heat and Light</a>” features Prof. Delmont discussing this story in depth.</em></p>
<p><a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/heat-and-light/id1424521855?mt=2"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233721/original/file-20180827-75984-1gfuvlr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=134&fit=clip" alt="Listen on Apple Podcasts" width="134" height="34"></a> <a href="https://www.google.com/podcasts?feed=aHR0cHM6Ly9oZWF0YW5kbGlnaHRwb2QuY29tL2ZlZWQucnNz"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233720/original/file-20180827-75978-3mdxcf.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=134&fit=clip" alt="" width="134" height="34"></a> <a href="https://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=221807&refid=stpr"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/236756/original/file-20180917-158222-1w998g0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=116&fit=clip" alt="Listen on Stitcher" width="116" height="34"></a> <a href="https://radiopublic.com/heat-and-light-WYDE55"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233717/original/file-20180827-75990-86y5tg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=105&fit=clip" alt="Listen on RadioPublic" width="105" height="34"></a> <a href="https://tunein.com/podcasts/History-Podcasts/Heat-and-Light-p1149068/"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233723/original/file-20180827-75984-f0y2gb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=86&fit=clip" alt="Listen on TuneIn" width="86" height="34"></a></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/101721/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Matthew Delmont does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The career arc of Nichelle Nichols – the first black woman to have a continuing co-starring role on TV – shows how diverse casting can have as much of an impact off the screen as it does on it.Matthew Delmont, Professor of History, Arizona State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1022452018-08-28T00:43:37Z2018-08-28T00:43:37ZFear of a Non-Nuclear Family<p>In 1968 the “Norman Rockwell” picture of the American family – the husband as breadwinner, the stay-at-home wife and mother, two kids, a white picket fence – was still widely accepted as the ideal. But things were starting to change. The feminist movement was encouraging more women to enter the workforce and protest traditional American ideals of femininity – including the 1968 Miss America pageant. At the same time, the manufacturing jobs that employed many men were starting to move overseas. For many Americans this wasn’t just a change in the structure of the typical family – it was a sign that essential American values were in danger.</p>
<p>In this episode, Phillip talks with historian Natasha Zaretsky about how worries about the state of the American family led to fears about the decline of American society – and how this continues to galvanize conservatives across the country to this day. It’s a phenomenon Zaretsky has been driven to understand since her childhood in liberal San Francisco after she discovered the disdain many people around the country had for people like her activist parents, a dynamic that continues to fascinate her today as she teaches conservative students in Southern Illinois.</p>
<p>Read more in this accompanying article from Natasha Zaretsky:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/red-state-politics-in-and-out-of-the-college-classroom-101299">Red-state politics in and out of the college classroom</a></p>
<p><a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/heat-and-light/id1424521855?mt=2"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233721/original/file-20180827-75984-1gfuvlr.png" alt="Listen on Apple Podcasts" width="268" height="68"></a> <a href="https://www.google.com/podcasts?feed=aHR0cHM6Ly9oZWF0YW5kbGlnaHRwb2QuY29tL2ZlZWQucnNz"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233720/original/file-20180827-75978-3mdxcf.png" alt="" width="268" height="68"></a></p>
<p><a href="https://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=221807&refid=stpr"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233716/original/file-20180827-75981-pdp50i.png" alt="Stitcher" width="300" height="88"></a> <a href="https://radiopublic.com/heat-and-light-WYDE55"><img class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-152" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233717/original/file-20180827-75990-86y5tg.png" alt="Listen on RadioPublic" width="300" height="97"></a></p>
<p><a href="https://tunein.com/podcasts/History-Podcasts/Heat-and-Light-p1149068/"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233723/original/file-20180827-75984-f0y2gb.png" alt="Listen on TuneIn" width="318" height="125"></a></p>
<p>Also: <a href="https://heatandlightpod.com/feed.rss">RSS Feed</a></p>
<p><strong>Music on this episode:</strong> “How to Evade a Place With No Wall” by Komiku, found on <a href="http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Komiku/Its_time_for_adventure__vol_3/Komiku_-_Its_time_for_adventure_vol_3_-_05_How_to_evade_a_place_with_no_wall">FreeMusicArchive.org</a>, licensed under <a href="https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/">CC0 1.0</a></p>
<p>“This Tuning Is So Dramatic” by Monplaisir, found on <a href="http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Komiku/Its_time_for_adventure__vol_3/Komiku_-_Its_time_for_adventure_vol_3_-_05_How_to_evade_a_place_with_no_wall">FreeMusicArchive.org</a>, licensed under <a href="https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/">CC0 1.0</a></p>
<p><strong>Archival Audio:</strong>
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=awCRaGkowjY">Ms. America, Up Against the Wall</a> </p>
<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXhlTQJcgbc">Ward Cleaver Teaches Walley About A Woman’s Place</a></p>
<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bug6EyIb_AE">Women’s Movement 1960s-70s</a></p>
<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcepzEufGXM">Bob Hope Christmas Special (1966) – Miss America, Vietnam</a></p>
<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yM1OJ_9s2mE">Equal Rights Amendment</a></p>
<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3kbZHryVvo">Crowning of Miss America 1969 – Judy Ford</a></p>
<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDIueebd12M">President Reagan’s Radio Address on Family Values on December 20, 1986</a></p>
<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8I065WZnms">Video rewind: May 19, 1992 – Dan Quayle vs. Murphy Brown</a></p>
<p><a href="https://vimeo.com/48621151">Moyers Moment (1980): Jerry Falwell on The Equal Rights Amendment</a></p>
<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IB5H--b3Xho&t=30s">Anita Bryant - Save Our Children Campaign</a></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/102245/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
In 1968 the idea of the ideal American family was the father as breadwinner, stay-at-home mom, two kids and a white picket fence. But the women's movement and other forces were beginning to change this – and inspire a conservative backlash that persists to this day.Phillip Martin, Podcast hostLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1022432018-08-27T20:20:08Z2018-08-27T20:20:08ZRevolution Starts on Campus<p>The radical student takeover of Columbia University in 1968 sparked a worldwide student protest movement: From Eastern Europe to South America, students rose up against authoritarian governments, racial inequality and, most passionately, against the war in Vietnam. Host Phillip Martin talks to African-American studies professor Stefan Bradley about how the Columbia uprising inspired similar events at the Democratic National Convention on Aug. 28, 1968, and to historian Michael Kazin, who was arrested for his activism at that DNC. </p>
<p>Both scholars were student organizers: Kazin orchestrated a takeover of Harvard University in the ‘60s, and Bradley combated racial discrimination at Gonzaga University. Bradley was also on the ground in Ferguson, Missouri, among the young people protesting the killing of Michael Brown. He reflects on what current movements can learn from the protests of 1968.</p>
<p>Read more in this accompanying article from Stefan M. Bradley: <a href="https://theconversation.com/1968-protests-at-columbia-university-called-attention-to-gym-crow-and-got-worldwide-attention-102093">1968 protests at Columbia University called attention to ‘Gym Crow’ and got worldwide attention</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/heat-and-light/id1424521855?mt=2"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233721/original/file-20180827-75984-1gfuvlr.png" alt="Listen on Apple Podcasts" width="268" height="68"></a> </p>
<p><a href="https://www.google.com/podcasts?feed=aHR0cHM6Ly9oZWF0YW5kbGlnaHRwb2QuY29tL2ZlZWQucnNz"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233720/original/file-20180827-75978-3mdxcf.png" alt="" width="268" height="68"></a></p>
<p><a href="https://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=221807&refid=stpr"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233716/original/file-20180827-75981-pdp50i.png" alt="Stitcher" width="300" height="88"></a> <a href="https://radiopublic.com/heat-and-light-WYDE55"><img class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-152" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233717/original/file-20180827-75990-86y5tg.png" alt="Listen on RadioPublic" width="300" height="97"></a></p>
<p><a href="https://tunein.com/podcasts/History-Podcasts/Heat-and-Light-p1149068/"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233723/original/file-20180827-75984-f0y2gb.png" alt="Listen on TuneIn" width="318" height="125"></a></p>
<p>Also: <a href="https://heatandlightpod.com/feed.rss">RSS Feed</a></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/102243/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
Fifty years ago, students rose up against authoritarian governments, racial inequality and, most passionately, the war in Vietnam. Two historians reflect on those momentous days in 1968 – and discuss what current movements learn from them.Phillip Martin, Podcast hostLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.