Star Trek and Dr. M.L. King Jr.

Now for something completely different.

Back in the Sixties there was a new television show that featured a multicultural cast, something never done before.

African-American Nichelle Nichols was cast as the communications officer, Nyota Uhura. This sort of thing is no big deal now. But back in the day, this was unheard of.

But Nichols was a stage actress and grew tired of the work that went into a television series and considered quiting.
Only an encounter with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. made her understand the magnitude of her role and the revolutionary boundary pushing that Star Trek was in its day.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNTSV4Eh0R4

(I am going somewhere with this. But I wanted to lay some ground work.)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uhura (Info on the character Uhura for the initiated.)