Star Trek's Nichelle Nichols on Uhura's Radical Impact

[@markreeter6227]

Fun Fact: ‘Uhura’ was selected as the name for the character by Nichols herself. Derived from the Swahili word ‘uhuru’ which means freedom or independence, it was also the title of an African history book she was reading at the time.

[@hagamapama]

that and Nichelle operated other stations on the ship at time, including navigation and the science station.

[@hagamapama]

Wow this attached to the wrong comment somehow.

[@saschotter]

I got to see Nichelle Nichols at Gen Con once from a distance. I saw the line for the meet and greet first and when I finally saw who it was I slapped my hands to my cheeks and squealed like a little kid. She heard, looked at me, and laughed with a smile I'll never forget. I never got through the line to actually meet her, but just seeing this amazing actress and having that brief moment of acknowledgement between a fan and a heroine was something I will keep in my heart forever.

[@MyNameisMessenger]

Whoah, what a great story! Very touching. ^ ^

[@RobertNielsen1970]

I met Nichelle at a local convention in Des Moines, IA, several years ago. I walked up to her table and commented that I was a huge fan of hers, and of Star Trek TOS. Then, I mentioned some of the things I heard her say about when she met Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and how he convinced her not to leave the show. She was very gracious and fun to talk to, and even offered to sign something for me, but I told her no, that I couldn't afford the fee that was being charged for autographs. In retrospect, I wish I'd been a little better at taking selfies with my phone and could have gotten a pic of the two of us giving the Vulcan salute. Still, I couldn't stop smiling for a _WEEK_ after that!

[@blacksheepwall79]

One of the best things about the character was that she wasn't there to just look pretty she had technical skills that we're vital to the functioning of the ship.

[@Serai3]

Even Spock didn't know enough to be able to fix that console! Only Uhura could do it, putting every aspect of the ship's ability to communicate in her hands.

[@cashcleaner]

Exactly! Chief of Comms. She didn’t make tea and coffee. She didn’t clean the bridge. She was in a high-tech job with a lot of responsibility.

[@Jacqueline_Thijsen]

This! I was a young child at the time and unaware of racial tensions, but that scene where Spock unequivocally stated that she was the best person for this extremely technical job had a huge impact on me.

[@Thejuvenal]

Also, once, in the animated series, in the episode The Lorelei Signal, Uhura commanded the ship to rescue her friends!

[@ellamaejackson8272]

She couldn't help but look pretty.

[@jamescarter5042]

Gene Roddenberry was light years ahead of time. He cast black, Russian, Japanese and Vulcan on this show.

[@EtzEchad]

Indeed. He broke the race barrier with all of them. We all love that Star Trek showed the first interracial kiss, but up until that show, NOBODY dared show a Vulcan at all on TV!

[@70CarStall]

No one would have thought of having a Vulcan on any show..... He steped leaps beyond the galexy...

[@C_mao]

@Q UE And cloaking technology (:

[@C_mao]

Well, he was, from, .. the, future (:

[@falanajerido875]

Amen

[@marypressley7160]

I grew up watching the reruns with my dad. I never thought about her being a black woman on tv in a major roll like that. I just thought that this beautiful, stunning woman was so smart. Loved her then and still do now.

[@fuzzywzhe]

I'm a 47 white guy, and I used to watch this show when I was just a little kid in the 1970s. I never thought of her as being special being black. She was just an amazingly beautiful woman to me on a television show I enjoyed. The racial divide actually was finished by 1990 but the damned media keeps trying to resurrect it. Conflict sells, for sociopaths, willing to go to any lengths to make money. BTW - Nichols is actually a better singer than she's an actress, and she's not a bad actress at all. Go look up some of her vocals.

[@flagcoco69]

@@fuzzywzheI'm 50, and I'm like you, I grew up on Star Trek and developed a crush on Uhura. And yeah, she's black, but so what? But it's easy for white guys to think so nonchalantly about race, it's called white privilege, and I'm not trying to offend you, but I'm a white guy too, and we've always had that luxury to not have the issue of race so thoroughly beaten into us on an everyday, everyhour, everyminute basis. We take that for granted. We say, Yes, Nichelle Nichols is a graceful, intelligent woman, and race doesn't matter. But once you do that, you remove the context of her existence, both Nichelle's and Uhura's. Yes, the entire point of Star Trek is to show humanity, 300 years down the road, has finally got its shit together, and these things don't matter anymore. Consider how much flack Roddenberry got for interjecting politics into Star Trek; while they were shooting scenes, marchers were getting beaten up by the police. Everything the people said about her in this video is true, that she was an icon, a pioneer, a vision of sheer class in an age where African-American women were only seen on TV as maids, and it's only a few years removed from the blaxploitation movies of the 70s, where they were seen as prostitutes. Nichols herself portrayed a madam in one of those movies. To say you're colorblind and to say she's just like everyone else is to diminish her place in history. To say you're colorblind is to say Nichols was disposable, that you could have put anyone in Uhura's place and Star Trek would have been just fine, and I'm offended by that. She wasn't the token black. She wasn't just a pretty black girl to spice things up on the bridge. She was sophisticated and intelligent and fourth in command. Race shouldn't matter, but all of human history has proven that it does matter. You and I grew up in the only 25-year span where, as a society, it looked like things were improving concerning race. From the death of Martin Luther King to the beating of Rodney King, you and I grew up in between, and I've come to consider it an aberration in American history, the only segment in over 400 years where things were looking up. To say the media keeps churning things up is to never have understood the depths to which racism went in our society. A good chunk of schools in the South were just being integrated when Uhura first took the bridge of the Enterprise. George Wallace was still campaigning on SEGREGATION NOW, SEGREGATION TOMORROW, SEGREGATION FOREVER, and here's Uhura talking to Spock and Kirk like they're equals. The media doesn't stir the shit up, the shit was always there, and I'm sorry if you thought it was ever solved. Save colorblind for the justice system, and truly, pray for it to become colorblind for the first time in America's existence. To say you're colorblind is to say you can't see something important, something beautiful, something deep. We can't embrace multiculturalism and diversity by saying we're colorblind, we can't admire it by claiming we have no ability to see it.

[@pierretoussaint8426]

@@flagcoco69 amen

[@raygordonteacheschess5501]

The whole point of the show was to show a postracial culture where Uhura was not a pioneer, just an engineer.

[@Alex-jb5tb]

I fully agree with you. I think I was 6 years old, or so, when I started watching and loving Star Trek in the 1970s.

[@jacquelinerussell8530]

I didnt realize until years later the true impact of Nichelle Nichols role was at the time not until many years later. A black female engineer on the Startrek Enterprise this was back in the sixties

[@hagamapama]

By the time I was growing up in the 80s I didn't even blink at the idea of a black female officer. We've come a long way.

[@nelsonzambrano5788]

still pretty heavy duty even today....

[@benspencer5744]

She was a OFFICER as well not just a jump for black females but females everywhere. I love the fact she gives the Vulcan goodwill sign in almost all of her photos..she is a true hero..and yeah my white boy self had a crush on her..still do..

[@davidallbaugh6858]

@@benspencer5744 I had a white boy crush on Uhruha as well except that was when the Star Trek was in reruns in the 70s. When I watched Star Trek when it first aired in the 60s, I was too young for such crushes. Back then my favorite Trek character was Sulu, probably because he flew the ship and fired the Enterprise's phasers and photon torpedoes at least some of the time.

[@havealot2say]

Or any black people being depicted in futuristic tv or film.

[@robertvelez8485]

If it wasn't for Dr. Martin Luther King insisting Michelle to stay after the first season of Star Trek (Michelle had an offer to star in a Broadway play) that I truly believe the show would have ended right then and there! She was that important to the show!

[@dwaynejeffers1632]

Robert Velez Nichelle not Michelle homey

[@jso651]

Spell chick , maybe .

[@imtiredoftheseniggas6618]

I agree

[@nertz4579]

@@jso651 Spell check isnt going to work with her name

[@oldgoat142]

I'm so grateful they had that chance encounter. Things could've been a whole lot different.

[@silaswhite1972]

So much fun seeing this again. Many years ago I read a book about Star Trek mythological structure . It said that the bridge command should be Kirk, Spock, Scotty, Uhura, Sulu. However, the suits at NBC would not allow a woman to be in command, so Uhura was never allow to "take the com". I think about this whenever I watch TOS. There is an episode in the Animated series where she has to take command and lead a battle. Can you imagine how cool that would have been on the live action show? Too bad.

[@krane15]

Well to be fair no women did. However, Majel did preform duties of the first officer (prior to Spock) during the original pilot episode "The Cage". Jeffery Hunter (Christopher Pike) dropped out after the pilot was rejected and was replaced by Shatner, Spoke became number one, and the rest is history.

[@meganhuggins7494]

I first saw Star Trek in 1969 when I joined the RAF (I’m a Brit) and I have to say that no one ever mentioned the fact that Uhura was black. We just enjoyed the programme. Good times 🙂

[@minewheaties5029]

RIP Nichelle Nichols. You broke so many barriers on and off television

[@KommanderKrim]

Gene told the studios that "wouldn't air" Star Trek to "go to hell." GO GENE!!

[@kellyweingart3692]

RIP Gene

[@RToddJones]

It was the affiliate stations (mostly southern) who said they would refuse to air the episode, not studios.

[@thomascarroll6612]

Nichelle Nichols is the bes thing to ever happen to TV......EVER! Her impact will be felt for generations to come. Truly a wonderful Lady!

[@shellyblanchard5788]

I loved her on that show. She made the show a delight.

[@nemo9xiphos]

A beautiful, graceful, superior woman Vast respect

[@MultiLililililili]

Is that a Khan reference? Haha

[@onemercilessming1342]

Nichelle Nichols is every bit as lovely today as she was when she played Uhura. In her biography, she stated that she and "Captain Kirk" (William Shatner) shared the first television interracial kiss on the show. When I graduated from college in mid-20th century with an engineering degree, NASA was not taking women applicants for the astronaut program. Ms Nichols made commercials for the Space Shuttle program ("NASA is looking for a few good men...and women...") but by then I was too old for the astronaut program.

[@jso651]

😢 sad 😢 you missed it , hope you went on to bigger and better things

[@Mskatz007]

Oh I'm sorry. What a loss for them

[@AmsterdamHeavy]

The original series debuted in 1966, not 1968. Last episode aired in 1969. Nichelle Nichols was hot and this show is one of the reasons many of us grew up colorblind.

[@bigphat200]

So true

[@420gma]

Agreed !

[@lexi22is]

AmsterdamHeavy You're not colorblind nobody is

[@RSTI191]

I hear you.. I thank my Mother she had me in 1962

[@jso651]

i am certain that and Star Trek helped me roll my eyes 👀👀 many times @ statements like this .

[@SailorBarsoom]

I was a little boy watching original _Star Trek_ in the 1970s. I didn't know anything about racial or sexual discrimination in the workplace; hell I hardly knew about workplaces. If anybody had told me about it I'm sure that I'd've just said, "Well in the 23rd Century it ain't like that anymore." I mean really: here we are watching a show about a starship with phasers and warp drive and transporters and such, and it's a black woman doing her job that we're supposed to find unrealistic? But again, I was a little boy and didn't know about any of that. But I sure recognized a pretty girl when I saw one.

[@hagamapama]

We all did! Nichelle was and is a beautiful woman with a beautiful soul.

[@lucyyoung77777]

STILL GORGEOUS

[@latscdy7952]

so true!

[@KeltoiMagus]

I was 4 yeats old and glued to the tv when Startrek premiered. One thing I very much appreciate about Uhuru is, at a very impressionable age for me, I never noticed Uhuru was Black. I never noticed Uhuru was a woman. Later in life I was aware how unique this was at the time. I can never repay the blessing of giving a young boy a view of the world that did not notice color or gender, just a bridge officer like the rest.

[@djbside1965]

Rest in Paradise to Pioneer, Actress, Dancer, and Star Trek Icon Nichelle Nichols (1932-2022). Your portrayal of Commander Nyota Uhura inspired countless numbers of scientists and engineers like myself to reach for the stars. You will always be my Queen of the Galaxy. ❤🖖

[@erictaylor5462]

"She ain't no maid!"

[@darthkurland]

Eric Taylor that’s what Whoopi Goldberg said when she first saw Nichelle on “Star Trek.”

[@jrbaskind]

John Winchester3567 don’t feed the troll.

[@johncunningham3870]

I'm a white dude. I used to tune just see her. Amazing.

[@ryankelly369]

Oh yeah. She had quite a presence on the bridge, didn't she? Of course, by the time I was born in 1978, things were already different than they were in 1966, but even as a young kid I knew she was just as important to the Enterprise as every other bridge officer.

[@hagamapama]

@jimmie jenkins Nothing more important on the bridge of a warship than the communications officer. They're the ones that receive orders and handle all ship to ship and ship to shore transmissions. In combat situations the only people working more overtime than the signals team are the Captain and XO. Putting a black female in charge of the signals team sent a message to anyone with naval experience.

[@jackiebennett6304]

She was and still is FINE

[@benspencer5744]

@@hagamapama She also had to know how to work on breaking code and other languages.she was a officer after all.

[@jochanaan58]

Nichelle Nichols is amazing. While there were, and are, any number of powerful black women who could have stepped into a similar role, I am thankful to her for making Uhura the strong role model she is.

[@RANDY4410]

She did that show with class Uhura was like a goddess , i was 10 years old going on 11 when that show first aired in 1966 i think it came on every Friday night i use to watch it with my brother and every time i watch her i saw class i even had a little crush on her (smile).

[@hagamapama]

Who didn't? If you weren't at least a little attracted to Uhura then you probably wound up not liking girls. She was so beautiful and strong.

[@Serai3]

She'll always be the Bridge Goddess to me. :)

[@richardlucero9265]

so Gorgeous!, I loved watching her, had a big Crush on her, who could'nt love that beautiful lady!, I finally got to see her in person!

[@lizaanual9166]

She was and still is gorgeous..

[@swinde]

Wow! Those legs in that miniskirt. We were blessed that the series aired in the late 1960s.

[@jaksida300]

Christ, can’t believe your takeaway from Uhura’s historical significance is lusting over how good she looked in a miniskirt.

[@swinde]

@@jaksida300 Of course her significance goes far beyond the mini-skirt, but she was special. Along those lines, do you remember the horrible outfits the crew wore in the first movie? I am not sure why.

[@Serai3]

Miniskirts look sexist today, but what most people don't realize is they were a power statement in the 60's. Women wore them to express their freedom from restrictive, "modest" clothing, and the demure image that went along with it.

[@nicholasdickens2801]

Still to this day this woman is a fantastic icon. Uhura is simply a legend and she beautiful.

[@brynpookc1127]

I met Nichelle Nichols several times. She had family in Shawnee Mission, KS and would come to all the Kansas City, MO, Star Trek conventions and starred in theatre productions. First time, I was in the hucksters room going through a box of photos. She came up behind me - swear I felt a presence behind me - put her hands on my shoulders and said, “No, not these,” walked me around the tables and said, “These, this is where the good photos are.” Most of the stars that came were only seen in there presentations. Nichelle just walked around and chatted to people. After the theatre shows, she’d come out front, sit on the edge of the apron and chat and answer questions. At the cons, she always had gatherings where she’d sit on a chair placed on a riser to chat and tell stories. There would be maybe 25-50 people in the room and she made each of us feel like we were her friend. She came in one time and said she wanted to encourage blacks and especially women to get into space. The next year she came back and announced she had a deal with NASA! As a 15 yo white girl, she also made me feel entitled to be somebody in this world. At 72, I miss knowing she’s in this world with me.

[@enriquesinghjr]

I grew up watching reruns of the original series and next generation and never thought that this was as groundbreaking off screen... I was just entertained by the stories... what was happening behind the scenes was probably more important to the world.

[@jamesrichey2434]

i love this woman, she just, represents humanity, and so does gene and so many others. remember the past, but don't live in it

[@clare5one]

Nichelle will always be beautiful!

[@julianaylor4351]

I love that line when Sulu is insane and calls her a fair maid, and she says, "Sorry, neither." ❤️

[@TaraColquitt]

I must rewatch that episode just to 'hear' that line. I don't recall it.

[@Jenjen-qc5eq]

She was and is still beautiful.

[@elder-woodsilverstein7716]

Who else is here after Nichelle Nichols' passing? RIP

[@speeta]

Inspiring, no doubt. If only the character of Uhura and the talents of Nichelle Nichols were more fully utilized in the series' run. As a bridge officer, she was capable of assuming command of the Enterprise should it become necessary. We should have seen some more of how capable she was. I always wanted to see Nichelle featured in another dramatic role as an educator, be it schoolteacher, principal, professor or dean. I'd still listen intently to her words.

[@hagamapama]

Uhura showed herself to be willing and able in a fight in a few scenes, although she lacked stopping power against larger and stronger threats. In the mirror universe episode Uhura disarmed a woman holding Kirk at phaserpoint. One thing I dont think they ever did, at least not in TOS, is use Uhura as a damsel in distress. I'm glad of that. And I strongly suspect it was a personal promise made by Gene to Uhura that that would never happen.

[@venanciahopkins5035]

She was a pioneer, RIP Nichelle Nicols as Lt. Uhura. This Star Trek fan loved you. You were awesome.

[@morrisparrish76]

Wherever she is; I hope she’s restin at ease!

[@alexbimpeh-segu3516]

Uhura was my favourite character. She was the future!

[@bartolomeestebanmurillo4459]

She was indeed a trailblazer. RIP Nichelle Nichols.

[@shoshanafox727]

I love the ending when she talks about her grandparents. Real. 😊👍👍

[@TaraColquitt]

Yes, I have never heard that tidbit of information before. I love all her interviews and I am glad I saw this one.

[@olivtrees8749]

I don't know if anyone noticed Uhura's speaking voice on the show. I'm just watching the reruns now and have noticed that the voice of Lt Uhura has to be one of the most naturally melodic voices I've ever heard. I noticed it immediately when she started speaking. It's soft and sultry, but without trying to be- it just is that way. I wish she did audiobooks back then.

[@krane15]

She was an entertainer: Actor, singer, dancer.

[@dottyjyoung]

She also has an AMAZING singing voice!

[@krane15]

@@dottyjyoung She's an entertainer: singer, dancer, and actor. What I've always admired about Star Trek is that its a show that can offer its cast the ability to realize the full range of all their talents. Many of the cast also got the opportunity to direct. I doubt if any other show could offer its cast half as much.

[@dawnwelch6579]

Nichelle is still so scorching HOT today...her spirit and personality are amazing!!!

[@MegaBoilermaker]

A beautiful, intelligent lady.

[@judithwerner5301]

Absolutely. She was stunning in all ways.

[@gretchenmreminting2887]

----Back when there were basically NO African American gals Starring on a TV show!!!!!!! So, Uhura was indeed an 1st!!!!:)

[@lamontburton1233]

To Gretchen Mrenminting:Correction:You forgot Mannix's Gail Fisher who won several Emmy awards & Diahann Carroll who played the title role in Julia from 1968-1971.

[@hagamapama]

Dunno about first, but she was a pioneer. A pioneer is someone who widens the trail for those who come after, and Nichols did that both in TV as an actress, and in the sciences due to her promotion of minorities into NASA. She is a cultural milestone for both people of color and females as they pushed for more equal treatment.

[@Serai3]

Whoopi Goldberg attributes her desire to be in show business to Lt. Uhura. :)

[@zhaoliang4217]

Yes there is Mannix’ penny fair in season two (1968) on, and Diahann Carroll in 1968 on. But Uhuru was introduced in TOS season (1966) so a couple years earlier.

[@zhaoliang4217]

Also no one remembers Mannix, or Julia. Not like Star Trek TOS which went into heavy reruns then movies and then remakes.

[@jacquelinelarsen6159]

I was a little girl when I first watched Star Trek and I always thought she was just a lovely lady and very classy.

[@hgodvilla00]

Rest in peace Nichelle Nichols. Live long and prosper Lt. Nyota Uhura.

[@shadowjack8]

Science fiction has led mankind to many new heights. It has inspired new technologies and new social awareness. Thank you Nichelle Nichols and thank you Gene Rodenbenberry.

[@harrypool71]

🌼☀️👑☀️🌼 RIP Queen

[@mozvidz]

*_May she Rest in Power!_*

[@1978rharris]

Rest In Peace sweet Nichelle.

[@1sandinista]

Warped speed ahead to heaven Lt. Uhura. Thank you!

[@xxlCortez]

She also inspired Whoopi Goldberg.

[@pefernandez1982]

Rest In Peace Nichelle Nichols

[@BloodofPatriots]

The spend too much damn time on that stupid kiss... what about the episode when Uhura took command of the bridge? www.tor.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/captuhura.png

[@GnosticAtheist]

I barely saw the original series. If that is true why on earth even mention the kiss? A black woman as acting captain in the 60s? Beats a lame kiss scene.

[@BloodofPatriots]

People forget that when the character was introduced, she was wearing command GOLD.

[@speeta]

It would have been terrific if this had actually happened in "Catspaw". Everyone who usually takes command in the captain's absence is down on the planet so the duty becomes Uhura's. IIRC the script gave her the conn, the network pressured against doing that. The producers gave in and had Mr. DeSalle take command instead.

[@mr.someoneudontkno698]

Øystein A. That is because that was considered completely taboo at that time and to many was a huge no no worst than a woman leading

[@hagamapama]

TAS happened a fair bit later, and I'm not sure that it was as groundbreaking to have a black woman in charge in the late 70s as it was to have a black female officer at all in the late 60s

[@verdugoroadtech]

The Kiss in art has always been iconic.Culture owes a debt of gratitude to Art practitioners from the sixties.We are all still trying to live up to their creativity.And failing woefully in the process.

[@Timurlane100]

I'm white and was a kid growing up in the South when TOS was on the air. My small town still had visible scars from segregation. There was, for example, an old Rexall Drug store that had a Greyhound Bus waiting room in the rear that had once been segregated into 'white' and 'colored' sections. The signs were still there, though the 'colored' section was then used for storage. At any rate, I recall the Plato's Stepchildren episode with the first interracial kiss, and not to boast, but neither I nor my family or friends thought it scandalous or taboo in any way. It was simply something that didn't register, because we had already developed a fondness for all the characters on the Enterprise. Decades later I learned that NBC studio execs feared how people in the South might react, and maybe there were some Southerners who did clutch their pearls, but I sure didn't know any. This was the genius of Roddenberry. He created strong characters whom the audience loved and admired, and race, ethnicity, even planet of origin didn't matter. Maybe it was naïveté, but at the time and until sometime around the mid to late 1980s, it felt that we as a culture had made such impressive strides. Nichelle Nichols was a trailblazer in the 1960s, but by the mid 1980s, many thousands were walking that trail. Unfortunately, however, I think some people decided that fueling racial divisiveness could be used to pay the rent, so much of the societal advancements were eroded for political and monetary gain.

[@CambriaCandiceMaria]

I am a dark black woman, originally from Nubia, and my husband is white from the United States. He told me he was a Trekkie when he was younger and that all the white guys were in love with Lieutenant Uhura.

[@kenmay1572]

RIP Uhura hailing channels closed

[@Tiberius291]

As a teenager I remember my father saying she has a great body, of course I agreed with him since I had a crush on her long before he said it.

[@carlabunn1134]

In all of the shows I watched of the original Star Trek series , I never saw a more beautiful and elegant woman than Uhura.

[@robbmoody4857]

Lovely woman , great lalent and voice for her generation.

[@thenotoriousgryyn342]

RIP Lt Uhura, hailing frequencies closed.

[@thomasbarca9297]

She’s a hero of mine

[@FerretJohn]

Up to then there were two people not ever seen among the bridge crew (well, three actually: friendly aliens, and that was covered too by Spock), women and black people, and here was Uhura, a black woman among the command staff. It didn't matter that she didn't actually have any command authority, that she just answered the space-phone, and that Ensigns would be put in charge of the bridge when Kirk led the away missions, she was there and she was the first one

[@williamsteed9093]

Beautiful,talented, iconic.R.I.P. Nichelle,miss you already.🙏🙏

[@waynemuldrow4066]

RIP Nichelle & Bill Russell....

[@fredklein3829]

Was Star Trek's "Plato's Stepchildren" episode the first TV show to show a kiss between Canadian and American actors?

[@NesconProductions]

Though not shown in this clip Ms. Nichols could dance & had an absolutely stunning voice. Know William Shatner covered 'Mr. Tambourine Man' & Leonard Nimoy 'Bilbo Baggins' but think she could sing better.. ; ) - A National Treasure & eternal thanks to Gene Roddenberry for making both the Original series & Next Gen. happen.

[@Lumibear.]

She finally got old. Still fine though.

[@warrenrobinson6436]

this is way better for diversity than what we have today.

[@hagamapama]

Yep. No virtue signalling. Whenever the Captain addresses Uhura, it's either as "Lieutenant" or "Lieutenant Uhura." Star Trek normalized diversity 10,000 times better tan virtue signalling ever can. Uhura wasn't the only one though. The admiral in charge of Kirk's court martial was also of color, and the lawyer who prosecuted him was female. Dr. Daystrom, a leading Federation scientist, was also black. All of this would have been controversial in the late 60s Uhura was established to not be an outlier, in other words.

[@Serai3]

It's not accurate to say there was no negative reaction to the kissing scene. There was one negative letter, and it was from a guy in the South. The objection the guy had was not that Kirk was kissing Uhura, but that he was _fighting_ it. "I don't care what's going on, no red-blooded male is going to hold a woman like that in his arms and not want to kiss her!" :D

[@elaineburnett5230]

Funny.. sweet and funny.

[@Aluminiumplatte]

She was the first user of a wireless inear headphone.

[@JasonNation72]

RIP Ms. Nichols

[@patrickwilson1459]

I got to meet her at a comic con several years ago. She was very nice. When I asked what her favorite episode of the original Star Trek TV series was, it was “Every episode where I got to be off the Bridge”. I could see that the moment she said so.

[@CallsItLikeISeizeIts]

3x a barrier breaker, lead on TV, 1st interracial kiss and helped selected 1st female astronauts? Talk about foreshadowing! If ever there was a candidate for a civilian space flight (Talkin to you Branson and musk) , she’s right here ( and it better be free).

[@panowa8319]

RIP 🙏 Nichelle Nichols. Uhura was one of my very first 😍.

[@greekpapi]

Still a beautiful lady!!

[@michaelrussell3890]

R.I.P 😢

[@krane15]

Michelle was the actor that gets the fame but it was actually Roddenberry that was the visionary responsible for her presence on the show. Also, credit to Dr. King who reminded her of the significance to stay. Considering the popularity of the series over all these years, I'm sure that was a suggestion she's glad she listened to.

[@Tim_Shu]

Gorgeous woman 💖

[@rokker101]

RIP Nichelle x

[@jamescarter5042]

Wonder woman, Lynda Carter tribute to Nichelle Nichols. "Many actors become stars, but few stars can move a nation. Nichelle Nichols showed us the extraordinary power of Black women and paved the way for a better future for all women in media," Carter said. "Thank you, Nichelle. We will miss you."

[@Trisherboops]

inspiring😀

[@val9170]

Love her! God bless her

[@bostonblackie9503]

It is staggering that she played what would be regarded later as an outstanding role. It was during the civil right movement but at the time the fact they had a black woman, the emphasis on black and woman, drew little attention. In the next few years her role would start to draw attention as the first black woman to play such an authoratative role. It would be several Star Trek series later before they had a female and black captain.

[@jeromesassani9537]

Can you imagine the Star Trek fan's reactions had Uhura passed on instead of Mr. Spock?

[@TheSilverphoenix88]

She's just an orb of positivity

[@manb4war]

Google Uhura...Mirror Mirror...abs....you're welcome.

[@jeromesassani9537]

I wonder what the world's wives thought back in those wholesome times.

[@hagamapama]

@@jeromesassani9537 Oh some of them probably clutched their pearls, but they also probably watched along with everyone else.

[@Dan.50]

Media spends all their time on the "kiss" but she was so much more than that.

[@Not_An_Alien]

RIP Nichelle 😪

[@GenX21_Chris]

Happy Birthday to Grace Dell Nichols 12-28-32.Illinois

[@polishherowitoldpilecki5521]

Star Trek was truly from the 23rd century.

[@hagamapama]

Star trek shaped the technology we have today. You can bet that there was one reason and only one that most flip phones opened vertically. I know I did the communicator thing more than once when I had my flip, before they went out of style.

[@butterliz876]

This woman is beautiful

[@Mxyzptlksac]

As a kid in the 70s I knew the interracial cast was a big deal but I didn't grasp until later how BIG it was. To me she was just that pretty kind black lady on Star Trek. She was amazing.

[@buckhutton7697]

Rip, great lady.

[@Chrisoula17]

I watched the show because of Lt Uhura. I was just a little girl and I was colorblind. To me she was just Lt. Uhura. Very beautiful.

[@steelcastle5616]

I really liked her uniform...

[@pleasantvalleypickerca7681]

My favorite TV series and Nichelle Nichols was a big part of it. Uhura was an awesome character!

[@Sarahbuildsstepsequencers]

She’s a gift. 💖

[@joeburns6379]

In the mid 1960's on television, only Barbara Eden on 'I Dream of Jeanie' was hotter. Nichelle Nichols is one of many beautiful women now in their 80's...Angie Dickinson...Bridgette Bardot...Sophia Loren...Ursula Andress...Claudia Cardinale...Kim Novak and Gina Lollabridgada.