The first appearance of a lead black character in star wars was Lando calrissian played by Billy Dee Williams from the 1980s onwards. Lando was introduced as a vital character in The Empire Strikes Back, leading the rebellion as a commander, Lando is one of the most memorable characters in the franchise, yet he is the only black character in the original trilogy. There is a clear lack of diversity and representation in star wars and this is even apparent through the prequels as yet again there is only one black character and this is Samuel L. Jackson's Mace Windu. Although he is one of the most powerful Jedi masters and is an important peice to these films does it really make up for the lack of representation in the franchise?
Interestingly enough some on screen non black characters are played and voiced by black actors.
Two cases of this being the infamous Darth vader and the much hated Jar Jar Binks.
Vader, played by white actor David Prowse, gets his iconic voice from an African American actor James Earl Jones and has voiced the character in most media Vader is in. This is a big deal as Vader is the main character of Star Wars as stated by George Lucas.
Yet another character who is not black in the films but is played by a black actor is the comedic relief of the prequel trilogy Jar Jar Binks, played by Ahmed Best who provided both the voice and motion capture for the character. Originally said to play a bigger role in the prequel trilogy, due to major backlash of the character in 1999's The Phantom Menace, his screen time was reduced in later films.
The Star Wars franchise has not always been a shining example of diversity in terms of the the number of black characters that exist in its galaxy-wide world, but the characters we do get, shine by themselves in these films and have become fan favourites, who have made their mark permanently in both the universe and hearts of Star Wars fans everywhere.
As a lifelong Star Wars fan, I think it's fair to say that I have been guilty of turning a blind eye to some of the franchise's shortcomings. In recent years I've compensated for this by trashing the prequels for... well everything!! But you're absolutely right - in a universe which manages to create and explore a huge host of different species, it's a shame the casting didn't always reflect the diversity we have on this planet!! Doubly so that the sequel trilogy seemingly blew it at the final hurdle as well - however I do hold out hope that some of the newer extended universe projects, such as The Mandolorian, will address this a bit more successfully.
That said,…