Nichelle Nichols dies at 89

[__onthebound]

Star Trek's Nichelle Nichols Has Passed Away at Age 89 https://t.co/0pEkz1xOYl pic.twitter.com/Ml4kZcvyJY
- Gizmodo (@Gizmodo) July 31, 2022

The original Uhura, Star Trek actress Nichelle Nichols has passed away at 89 from natural causes. Her family put out a lovely statement on her official fb.

source

Comments

[numbedtoe]

A truly legendary and inspirational woman. I'm so thankful for her, and her impact was bigger than measure.

[__onthebound]

I was crying when I read an interview where she said she was going to quit because she wanted to be taken seriously. MLK Jr told her to stay because her presence mattered. Whoopi said that Nichelle was the first black person she ever saw on screen that wasn't a butler/maid. It is how she knew she could become an actress.

I want to collect the thoughts from celebs but it was so overwhelming I didn't end up including them

[numbedtoe]

I knew the MLK story going back to childhood. I'm so glad that he knew enough and told her cause that's potentially a different world with ripples way beyond that of a character's arch. I'm so glad that Whoopi always shared her story over the years not only to praise Nichelle but to show her publicly how much she meant

[angebleu]

She (and the show) were the inspiration for Ronald McNair to be come an astronaut. I get teary eyed when I see this:

[fantastiche]

I love that story and it makes me feel emotional any time I read it, but obviously especially now.

Star Trek was, he said, the only show he allowed his children to stay up late to watch. When she told him that she was planning to leave the show, he told her that she just couldn’t: though African-Americans were making great strides toward equality, she represented one of the only examples of that equality on American television. Uhura was intelligent and beautiful and commanding and, he pointed out, a role that wasn’t specifically the role for a black woman. Her presence on that space ship showed the world that a black woman could be all of those things.

Taken from here.