“She walks as beautifully as the night….”
A grinning Spock greets Lieutenant Uhura in Byron’s row at one point in shared decades of “Star Trek” adventures. Now, this is a story long ago when Leonard Nimoy’s Spock occasionally grinned, walk with me:
Even the aliens knew the Queen when they saw her.
And what a queen. those boots. that dress. That eye makeup. That noble voice.
Nichelle Nichols, the woman who brought Uhura to life, died last week at the age of 89. Both on the TV screen and in real life, her contribution to America’s collective imagination cannot be overstated.
With gorgeous earrings dangling and unruly hair, she was a communications officer and fourth in command of the Federation starship USS Enterprise in the 23rd century.
She was the embodiment of the proclamation that flew across billboards decades later: The future has black people.
When “Star Trek” debuted on NBC in September 1966, Uhura’s very presence struck audiences like a thunderbolt. At the time, Black people were fighting a literal and ultimately existential battle for the autonomy of their bodies and souls. It was an era of marches, freerides and sit-ins. Malcolm X was already dead. Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. was still preaching.
Black people of all abilities and occupations were still marginalized in restaurants, hotels and offices. When referred to in the larger media, black women were portrayed as loud, undignified troublemakers, or kind, overweight maids and nannies who seemed happy to dote on white children. rice field.
Out of that madness, Uhura appeared.
A vision of red and black. Beautiful, smart, not interested in anyone’s nonsense.
Her name means freedom in Swahili. And for a generation, she stood for it: the freedom to be seen and valued for your talent, rather than being seen as responsible for your color.
I’m too young to watch “Star Trek” on NBC. I wasn’t born until the 1970s. I joined the franchise in the early 1990s while attending college in Philadelphia. Philadelphia TV was Trek’s paradise back then. “Star Trek: The Next Generation” and “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine” premiered, and older episodes of “The Next Generation” were already available five days a week. The original series was on every Saturday afternoon.
At first, he complained mostly about what Uhura didn’t do. She was rarely in the spotlight because she wasn’t one of the Big 3 (Kirk, Spock, McCoy). Of course, this was true of women in general in the original series, and wasn’t fully fixed as a franchise problem until Star Trek: Discovery decades later. I know she was at the helm, and I know that her orders were questioned and challenged far more often than any other captain of her time. Never had the courage to involve Picard, Kathryn Janeway did something wrong.)
As I got to work myself, I developed a healthier appreciation for Uhura. I’ve learned that a lot of the time you have to come to work ready and not expect to be pushed forward or stroked behind. But don’t make a big deal out of it. Run your business, not your mouth.
And I thought what Nichols must have gone through over the years. While being celebrated for being part of this hopeful and exciting vision of the future, we must fight for our current screen time and inclusion in the 1960s. as she repeatedly recalled, she left the series after the end of the first season and returned to Broadway until “her biggest fan” – a famous preacher named Martin Luther King – spoke. It was planned. She then.)
Once the show ended, Nichols continued to be a catalyst for inclusion. In the 1970s, she took a national tour of colleges and professional institutions, encouraging the nation’s top women and people of color—scientists, engineers, and mathematicians—to apply for the astronaut program. I listened.
Charles Bolden, a retired Marine Major General who flew on four Space Shuttle missions and was a NASA administrator for eight years, said Nichols’ tour gave him the idea to apply. Mae Jemison, the first African-American female astronaut, often cited Nichols as her inspiration.
Her tour resulted in people like Sally Ride, Judith Resnick, Frederick Gregory, and Ronald McNair all becoming astronauts.
(Mr. Nichols, I grew up loving stars and planets and nebulae, so I couldn’t see much from my Brooklyn apartment, but I might have tried. I’d have to cross the other road.) did.)
of 2011 interview Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson said, along with Nichols, her efforts made the space shuttle program the first American astronaut program to better reflect America.
Yes, an astronaut is someone who has taken tests, trained their bodies, made sacrifices, and flown among the stars.
Nicholls first winds it into a TV show and a concept that grew into a multi-million dollar global franchise, and eventually into a real-life space organization figuring out how to build its fictional spaceship, the Enterprise. helped provide
Her presence and her encouragement let us know we were there in the future. Of course you are there. Be ready to use it when it’s your turn.
She changed what people thought was possible. There is no greater gift a performer can give.
If there’s an afterlife, I hope Nimoy takes a few minutes to entertain Nichols with his poetry again.
