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Related: Culture Forums, Support ForumsStar Trek~ Happy 81st birthday, Lieutenant Uhura!!
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Miss REVOLutionaries shared ConScare's photo.
December 29, 2013
By ConScare
"Happy 81st birthday, Lieut. Uhura!! The Star Trek character played by Nichelle Nichols broke racial barriers on TV, and when she thought of quitting the series at one point, none other than Martin Luther King, Jr., encouraged her to stay on! "He said I had the first nonstereotypical role, I had a role with honor, dignity and intelligence. He said, 'You simply cannot abdicate, this is an important role. This is why we are marching. We never thought we'd see this on TV.'" - Ms. Magazine
FB/ https://www.facebook.com/MissREVOLutionaries
Today I would like to honor and celebrate a woman who has made her mark on television, space travel, and equal rights, Nichelle Nichols. Best known for her role as Lt. Uhura on the original Star Trek series, Nichols has parlayed that initial cult status and eventual superstardom into a platform for making the world a better place for everyonea true champion for social justice. She started her career in the brief lifespan of Oscar Brown, Jr.s civil rights musical Kicks & Co. Although the stage was her first love, she accepted an early television role from Gene Roddenberry. When he was casting Star Trek, he insisted on adding her to the cast as the communications officer.
As an equal officer on the command deck, Uhura was unprecedented: an African-American lead character who was not a servant. Nevertheless, feeling that the character was not as fully developed as her peers, Nichols planned to leave after the first season to return to Broadway. As she later recounted, she was encouraged to remain at the program when a fan of the show approached her at an NAACP function where she was speaking. That fan was Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. When she told him of her plans, he replied,
STOP! You cannot! You cannot leave this show! Do you not understand what you are doing?! You are the first non-stereotypical role in television
Nichelle, for the first time, not only our little children and people can look on and see themselves, but people who dont look like us, people who dont look like us, from all over the world, for the first time, the first time on television, they can see us, as we should be! As intelligent, brilliant, people! People in roles other than slick tap dancers, and maids, which are all wonderful in their own ways, but for the first time we have a woman, a WOMAN, who represents us and not in menial jobs, and you PROVE it.
Remaining on the series, she went on to be part of the first-ever scripted mixed-race kiss on television when Uhura and Captain Kirk were forced to kiss by telekinetic aliens. After the series was cancelled, she realized she had been bitten by the space bug. Along with her continued support of the NAACP, Nichols reached out to NASA. She participated in a number of their civilian programs and became a spokesman for the agency. She had started a company to further womens rights, Women In Motion, and agreed to use that company to help recruit women and people of color to NASA. Her efforts were very successful, helping bring in such luminaries as Sally Ride and Charles Bolden, the first permanent African-American NASA Director.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/02/10/1063564/-Black-History-and-Star-Trek#
Sally Ride...
My heart aches right now. Sally was one of my first and biggest achievements. She once thanked me for my recruitment efforts while under contract to NASA, saying "If it hadn't been for you I might not be here."
Sally carved out her own place in history as the first American woman in space, but she was much more than that. She was a symbol for all of the little girls that needed to see what was achievable if you worked hard and studied hard. Sally was a physicist and had a love for the Sciences - a field of study that we should all encourage young people to follow.
Many people have said that I was their inspiration, something that fills my heart with joy every time that I hear it. When NASA asked me to help them find the first qualified women and minorities to join the then all-male-all-white astronaut corp, I did so with great enthusiasm.
One of the first that my company Women In Motion was able to reach was a beautiful, young, brilliant woman named Sally Ride. She not only joined the astronaut corps - she revolutionized it by blazing the trail that so many female astronauts followed.
She became MY inspiration to continue to search to find the next Sally Ride, or Dr. Mae Jemison. I know that right now, there's a little Sally or Mae out there, reading about what Sally achieved in her life, and deciding that Mars sounds like a great place to visit........
http://www.uhura.com/
Arcanetrance
(2,670 posts)sheshe2
(83,898 posts)Arcanetrance
(2,670 posts)flying rabbit
(4,639 posts)Also, Nichelle is one helluva woman.
1monster
(11,012 posts)Arcanetrance
(2,670 posts)I want a new series
There are semi-professional real Trek films on the web, with some of the actors. Look at Of Gods and Men, also the upcoming Renegades. I think there may be others as well.
http://startrekofgodsandmen.com/main/
http://startrekrenegades.com/home/
Looking good, Nichelle!!
I haven't watched the new movies of recent years with entirely different actors. Women seemed to be basically invisible in the ads for the first one, so the heck with them.
sheshe2
(83,898 posts)The Vulcan Sign!
imthevicar
(811 posts)Lieut. Uhura Was the Number 4 Officer in the Command structure of the Enterprise; Kirk;Captain, Spock;First Officer, Scott; Engineering Chief, then Uhura;Communications Chief. I even remember 1 Episode with her under the communication station working on the equipment. Roddenberry showed Her as a Competent and capable officer.
Doc Holliday
(719 posts)She may have been #4 in the command line on paper, but Uhura never was actually given the conn in the original series, nor in any of the movies. Sulu was given the conn several times, and I recall one episode ("Journey To Babel" where Chekov was told to "take over" while Kirk went to sickbay....but never Uhura. She was given the conn in one animated episode, but other than that, she never got to sit in the big chair.
imthevicar
(811 posts)The Network execs who made those damnable decisions. The also wanted to "Get rid of the guy with ears. No Woman First Officer, And What's with the Jap in the driver seat!?" (not my words theirs.)
I will always remember Whoppie Goldberg's Reaction as a Child at seeing Star Trek, "I ran around My House Shouting Mama, Mama, Mama Come See the TV show, Theirs a Black Woman on it and She Ain't NO MAID!"
malthaussen
(17,216 posts)Hey, the tv people and Roddenberry went back-and-forth over this thing about six million times. Remember in the pilot, "Number One" was Majel Barrett's character, and Spock was next in rank. No way they were going to let that stand in 1968.
I don't see in TOS that there was every any distinct chain-of-command. In any event, we rarely saw anyone keeping watch; some crisis or other had always brought the captain to the bridge regardless of who may have been watch officer at the time. A priori, it would make more sense for Sulu to be next-in-line, as he was (apparently) chief navigation officer (or weapons, both are command-track positions), whereas Uhura was, after all, communications which is not a command track position. But Roddenberry either wasn't aware of, or did not care about, actual naval practices in setting ranks and positions for his characters. It made no sense at all for Sulu to be a lowly lieutenant given his important position.
That having been said, in "Mirror, Mirror" Uhura is clearly Sulu's superior, because she orders him back to his post when he hits on her after Kirk and Spock leave the bridge.
-- Mal
Boomerproud
(7,964 posts)You're still beautiful.
Trailrider1951
(3,414 posts)you will ALWAYS be beautiful...at least to me. You were my hero.
1monster
(11,012 posts)If she could only bottle that!
MrMickeysMom
(20,453 posts)RedstDem
(1,239 posts)Doesn't hurt that she's smoking hot either.
Happy b day mz Nichols
awoke_in_2003
(34,582 posts)she was the first person to make my young self realize that skin color doesn't matter.
DamnYankeeInHouston
(1,365 posts)We never know the far reaching impact our decisions can have. Kudos to Gene Roddenberry for hiring her. Kudos to MLK for encouraging her. And kudos to Ms. Nicholas for staying when it was far less than ideal.
joeybee12
(56,177 posts)Not sure why, being gay and all...Happy 81st!
yuiyoshida
(41,861 posts)I hope I look that good at 81.
lunamagica
(9,967 posts)Thank you, because as a child I could sit i front ot the tv and be proud of you, knowing that you would not faint, get hysterical or run and trip. Most other women on TV just made me cringe...but you, you were one to be admired
Nonhlanhla
(2,074 posts)And I mean that she seems beautiful in every way, inside and outside. She is still beautiful as ever, and she just oozes intelligence and charm. Thank you for an interesting post. I did not know all this about her.
valerief
(53,235 posts)demigoddess
(6,644 posts)And she did beautiful work!!
shenmue
(38,506 posts)Many happy returns!
kwassa
(23,340 posts)Neither had any idea.
Skittles
(153,193 posts)who wasn't a maid or a hooker - aw I loved her and she is STILL so exquisite
sarge43
(28,945 posts)As comm officer she was in charge on the onboard communication system.
In 1966 with the exception of nurses, service women were not assigned to ships or aircraft.
Regardless of race she was a role model for a lot of women.
Live long and prosper, Commander
Skittles
(153,193 posts)heck, when I enlisted women were still not even allowed in the academies, and that was well after Star Trek
sarge43
(28,945 posts)it was 75 or 76 before that restriction finally curled up and died.
Now an African-American woman, Michelle Howard, has been nominated for four star admiral. Can't help but wonder if she watched ST: OS when she was a young in.
Commander Uhura would be proud.
Skittles
(153,193 posts)congrats to Ms. Howard
sarge43
(28,945 posts)I was at Lackland plane patch at the time and a few women TIs were reassigned to the Springs to help wrangle the female eager young space cadets.
longship
(40,416 posts)I love the scene...
Mister Adventure is going to get into the closet. (or something like that)
It was in ST3, "The Search for Spock"
Nichelle, we all love you!
sheshe2
(83,898 posts)She was an awesome character and one hell of an advocate for equality! Damn but she was and still is a great lady.
BumRushDaShow
(129,441 posts)ST3 still one of my faves.
Happy birthday to Nichelle!
longship
(40,416 posts)Cleita
(75,480 posts)in "The Avengers". Yes, I'm that old and Nichelle still looks fabulous.
malthaussen
(17,216 posts)All hail Uhura!
-- Mal
discntnt_irny_srcsm
(18,482 posts)DinahMoeHum
(21,809 posts). . .even as all hell was breaking loose aboard the Enterprise.