Nichelle Nichols

Nichelle Nichols was an American actress and singer best known for portraying communications officer Nyota Uhura in the original Star Trek television series and films.

Martin Luther King Jr.: Martin Luther King Jr. was an American civil rights leader who advocated nonviolent resistance to racial segregation. King urged Nichols to remain on Star Trek, recognizing Uhura’s significance to Black representation.
Nyota Uhura: Nyota Uhura is a Star Trek communications officer portrayed by Nichelle Nichols in the original series and films. Uhura is the role that made Nichols a lasting figure in television and science-fiction history.
NASA astronaut recruitment: NASA astronaut recruitment is the process of attracting and selecting candidates for spaceflight training. Nichols worked with NASA to encourage women and minority applicants to pursue astronaut careers.
Star Trek: Star Trek is a science-fiction franchise about space exploration, alien civilizations, and the future of humanity. Nichols’s career is closely associated with the franchise that introduced Uhura.
Gene Roddenberry: Gene Roddenberry was an American television writer and producer who created Star Trek. Roddenberry cast Nichols as Uhura and developed the series in which she became a pioneering presence.
Plato's Stepchildren: “Plato’s Stepchildren” is a 1968 episode of Star Trek featuring a kiss between Captain Kirk and Lieutenant Uhura. Nichols and Shatner’s kiss became a landmark moment in American television history.
Interracial kiss: An interracial kiss is a kiss between people of different racial groups, often discussed in relation to media representation. The Kirk–Uhura kiss brought Nichols into debates about race and television representation.
Star Trek: The Next Generation: Star Trek: The Next Generation is a television series set in the Star Trek universe, following a later starship crew. Its later-era cast continued the franchise’s representation of Black characters through figures such as Geordi La Forge.
Mae Jemison: Mae Jemison is an American physician and former NASA astronaut who became the first Black woman in space. Jemison cited Uhura as an inspiration and later appeared in Star Trek: The Next Generation.
Star Trek: The Motion Picture: Star Trek: The Motion Picture is the 1979 science-fiction film that continued the original television series. Nichols returned as Uhura in the first feature film based on the series.

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