‘Star Trek’ actor Nichelle Nichols has died aged 89
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How Martin Luther King convinced Nichelle Nichols not to quit ‘Star Trek’
When the news broke that Star Trek icon Nichelle Nichols had passed away this weekend, many were devastated. The queen of the USS Enterprise in the shape of the ice-cool and intelligent Lt. Uhura, Nichols’ role in the original series was incredibly significant. It was among the first shows which featured a Black American in an esteemed position on television instead of a racist caricature.
Uhura and Nichols embodied the point that the NAACP and the civil rights movement were trying to convey – that Black people and minorities deserved equal footing with their white counterparts, as they were capable of many brilliant things.
While Nichols’ role as Uhura was so significant that it brought her unprecedented artistic success, she came close to leaving the project after the first season as her head had been turned by the prospects of another job on Broadway. However, she was persuaded to stay on by her self-professed “greatest fan”, none other than Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and it was he who put into perspective the weight of what she was doing at Star Trek.
Nichols recalled the story on numerous occasions across her career, and one of the most revealing came during a 2011 interview with NPR. The story goes that she had told the show’s creator Gene Roddenberry of her wishes to leave for Broadway but that he asked her to review her position over the weekend. She obliged, and by a stroke of divine providence, it was during those two days that she bumped into King at an NAACP fundraiser.
At the time, she was told that her “greatest fan” was attending the event and was keen to meet. She remembered turning around at being surprised to see the civil rights leader approaching her. “I remember thinking, ‘whoever the fan is, is going to have to wait,'” said Nichols. “Because Dr. King — Dr. Martin Luther King, my leader! — is walking toward me!'”
As it turned out, Dr. King was the self-professed biggest fan, and what ensued was life-affirming for Nichelle Nichols. When speaking to NPR, she said: “He complimented me on the manner in which I’d created the character. I thanked him, and I think I said something like, ‘Dr. King, I wish I could be out there marching with you.’ He said, ‘no, no, no. No, you don’t understand… You are marching. You are reflecting what we are fighting for.'”
She continued: “I said, ‘Well, I told Gene just yesterday that I’m going to leave the show after the first year because I’ve been offered…’ — and he stopped me and said: ‘You cannot do that.’ And I was stunned. He said, ‘Don’t you understand what this man has achieved? For the first time, we are being seen the world over as we should be seen.’ He says, ‘Do you understand that this is the only show that my wife Coretta and I will allow our little children to stay up and watch?’ I was speechless.'”
In another television interview, Nichols revealed what else Dr. King had told her and why he thought her role in Star Trek was so vital. He told her: “You cannot, you cannot…for the first time on television, we will be seen as we should be seen every day, as intelligent, quality, beautiful people who can sing dance, and can go to space, who are professors, lawyers.”
He explained further: “If you leave, that door can be closed because your role is not a black role, and is not a female role; he can fill it with anybody, even an alien.”
