Captain Benjamin Sisko (Avery Brooks) is often referred to as Star Trek: Deep Space Nine premiered in 1993.
In Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: Discovery, a journey that also took her three seasons to complete.
The Wrath Of Khan Had Star Trek's First Black Captain
However, the honor of the first Black Captain seen on-screen in Star Trek actually goes to Paul Winfield, who portrayed Captain Clark Terrell in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. Terrell was Captain of the USS Reliant, and his mission was to find a suitable planet to test the terraforming Genesis Device. Unfortunately, Terrell and his First Officer, Commander Pavel Chekov (Walter Koening), mistakenly beamed to Ceti Alpha V, which they mistook for Ceti Alpha VI. Terrell and Chekov were captured by Khan Noonien Singh (Ricardo Montalbán). The genetically-engineered man tortured the Starfleet Officers, mind-controlling them with Ceti eels, as he stole the Genesis Device to take revenge on iral James T. Kirk (William Shatner).
When Khan ordered Terrell to murder iral Kirk, Terrell tragically turned his phaser on himself and committed suicide, as he fought the agony of the Ceti eel's mind control. Yet despite Terrell's demise, he still made history as Star Trek's first Black Captain. However, prior to Terrell, there was a Black Commodore named Stone (Percy Rodriguez) in the episode "Court Martial." Stone ran Starbase 11 and is technically ranked higher than a Captain, but Terrell is still the first Black character in Star Trek seen to command a starship.
Strange New Worlds' Retcon Makes Robert April The First Black Captain
Interestingly, the recent retcon by iral Robert April now precedes Clark Terrell as a Black Captain by about 30 years, and Captain Sisko by over a century in the Star Trek timeline.
