Nichelle Nichols, best known as Spacecraft Communications Officer Lieutenant Nyota Uhura enterprise, died on July 30. She was 89 years old. Star Trekresponded to the civil rights movement in the United States and helped set the first standard for diversity and inclusion in mainstream screen entertainment.
As Uhura, Nichols was a central figure. Star TrekIt first aired on NBC from 1966-1969. It paved the way for stars to Hollywood.
Born Grace Del Nichols on December 28, 1932 in the Chicago suburb of Robbins, Illinois, she modeled and starred in several stage plays during her twenties and thirties. Mr. Charlie’s Bluesbefore her breakthrough Star Trek.
despite her success Star TrekNicholls felt called to Broadway and, after receiving several offers for major stage roles, offered show creator Gene Roddenberry to resign. The following weekend, she attended her NAACP banquet as a celebrity guest, where she met Martin Luther She King.
“as a matter of fact, [Star Trek] It’s the only show that my wife, Coretta, and I allow our little ones to wake up to and watch because it’s past bedtime,” King said.
“And I got the courage to say, ‘I really miss my co-star,’ and he said, ‘What do you mean?’ Star Trek‘ And he said, ‘You can’t.’ […] He said, “For the first time on television, we will be seen as we should be seen every day.”
Nichols withdrew her resignation and continued with the series, culminating in her role in episode 10 of season 3, “Plato’s Stepsons,” the first interracial romance portrayed on American television, William Shatner. and kissed. The scene came a year later Supreme Court Decision Nullifying Laws of Southern States Against interracial marriage.
Although the series’ original run was canceled in 1969, Nichols remained an idiosyncratic figure. Star Trek figures for the next few decades. Along with Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelly, James Doohan, George Takei and Walter Koenig, she worked in six feature films from 1979 to 1991, starting with her first three-year stint in the 1960s. He is one of seven officers in command of the Enterprise.
On Earth, Nichols has served as an ambassador for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration since 1977, advocating for the training and assignment of astronaut candidates, especially women and ethnic minorities. In 2012, NASA credited Nichols with Sally Ride (the first American woman in space) and her fellow astronauts Ronald McNair, Frederick Gregory, and Judith for influencing her Resnik career. I was.
