Star Trek fans worldwide mourned the passing of actress Nichelle Nichols on July 30, 2022, at the age of 89. As with every other actor associated with the original series of Star Trek, Nichols’s other personal and professional roles were doomed to be eclipsed by her participation in three seasons of the cult phenomenon show that went on to spawn an ever-increasing count of film sequels and spinoffs. I am no biographer and will leave the task of eulogizing Nichols as a person to those who knew her and can properly pay tribute. Like so many others, I knew her for that one role: Lieutenant Nyota Uhura.
Of course, Uhura’s very existence as a character was groundbreaking. Her position as a bridge officer in a future starship was symbolic of a world in which Black people were promoted as active participants in competent and professional ways. So significant was her symbolic role that, as Nichols would often remark, Martin Luther King, Jr., himself insisted she remain as an actor in…
