08/01/2022
Nichelle Nichols, who made television history in the 1960s with her portrayal of "Star Trek" character Lieutenant Nyota Uhura, has died at the age of 89. In her breakthrough role, Nichols showed an African American woman in a position of power as the fourth in command of a starship. Actress Whoopi Goldberg described the powerful impact that seeing Nichols in this role had on her as a child: "Well, when I was nine years old, Star Trek came on, I looked at it and I went screaming through the house, 'Come here, mum, everybody, come quick, come quick, there's a black lady on television and she ain't no maid!' I knew right then and there I could be anything I wanted to be.”
Nichols once met Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. at a NAACP fundraiser and he shared that he was a "Trekkie" and "Lieutenant Uhura's most ardent fan." At the time, Nichols was considering leaving the show and King urged her to stay, stating: "'Don't you realize how important your presence, your character is? This is not a black role or a female role. You have the first nonstereotypical role on television. You have broken ground'... 'Here we are marching, and there you are projecting where we're going. You cannot leave [the show]. Don't you understand what you mean?' I told him that when I would go on hiatus from the show, I could come and march with him and he said, 'No! You're an image for us. We look on that screen and we know where we're going.' It was like he was saying, 'Free at last, free at last!'"
Nichols did stay on the show with its entire run and went on to make history again in 1968 as part of one of the first televised in*******al kisses in a scene with William Shatner, who played the show's lead character, Captain James T. Kirk. In a later interview, Nichols admitted that, at first, she didn’t see the significance of it. “I come from an in*******al family, and so it was kind of boring for me to be talking about something I experienced every day,” she said. “It was not new to me, because I lived it. But I realized it was new on TV, and I had the opportunity to bring it to the world.”
For an upcoming new picture book about Nichelle Nichols and her important legacy, check out "To Boldly Go: How Nichelle Nichols and Star Trek Helped Advance Civil Rights" at https://amzn.to/3oJNpCW
For those who loved Nichelle Nichols' iconic character, Uhura is featured on the 1000-piece 'Women of Star Trek Puzzle' for ages 10 and up at https://www.amightygirl.com/women-of-star-trek-puzzle
Uhura is also featured on the 'Women of Star Trek T-Shirt' for teens and adults at https://amzn.to/3BvPUAc
For science fiction stories starring Mighty Girls, visit our "Fantasy & Science Fiction" book section at http://amgrl.co/2wfKIOZ
To discover our favorite books for children starring black girls, check out our blog post, "Broadening the Story: 60 Picture Books Starring Black Mighty Girls," at https://www.amightygirl.com/blog?p=11056
And for stories about courageous girls and women of the U.S. Civil Rights Movement, check out our blog post on "50 Inspiring Books on Girls & Women of the Civil Rights Movement" at https://www.amightygirl.com/blog?p=11177
