Nichelle Nichols

Actor Nichelle Nichols, who found worldwide fame and led the way for black women in TV by starring in the original Star Trek TV series,

Nichols, who was best known for her role on the show in the 1960s as Lieutenant Nyota Uhura and helped shatter racial stereotypes at the height of the Civil Rights movement, died in July aged 89

Her role in the 1966-69 series as Lieutenant Nyota Uhura earned Nichols great respect from the show’s hardcore fans, known as Trekkers and Trekkies.

It also earned her accolades for breaking racial stereotypes and included an interracial on screen kiss with co-star William Shatner that was unheard of at the time.

NASA recruiter

Like other original cast members, Nichols also appeared in six big-screen spinoffs starting in 1979 with Star Trek: The Motion Picture and frequented Star Trek fan conventions.

She also served for many years as a NASA recruiter, helping bring minorities and women into the astronaut corps.

The original Star Trek’s overriding message to viewers was that in the far-off future – the 23rd century – human diversity would be fully accepted.

“I think many people took it into their hearts… that what was being said on TV at that time was a reason to celebrate,” Nichols said in 1992.

She often recalled how Martin Luther King Jr was a fan of the show and praised her role. She met him at a civil rights gathering in 1967, at a time when she had       decided not to return for the show’s second season.

“When I told him I was going to miss my co-stars, and I was leaving the show, he became very serious and said, ‘You cannot do that,'” she told a newspaper in 2008.

“‘You’ve changed the face of television forever, and therefore, you’ve changed the minds of people,'” she said the civil rights leader told her.

“That foresight Dr King had was a lightning bolt in my life,” Nichols said.

Now, she has been added to a memorial flight in a rocket ship due to carry   cremated ashes and DNA samples from departed space enthusiasts on a final and eternal voyage around the sun, according to organisers of the tribute.

Source  SKY News  UK 31st July & 27 August 2022 

Photo source  TREKMOVIE.com September 2022