the delphic expanse

Nichelle Nichols talked to NPR for Martin Luther King day. At the end of the article, there is a link to find local times and stations so you can listen.

I heard this interview while I was cleaning house today. It actually gave me chills (in a good way) when she talked about meeting Dr. King and apologizing for not marching with him. He told her "you're marching every day" by playing Uhura. He also told her that Star Trek was the only show he allowed his children to stay up and watch because it portrayed what he was working for. It's really an awesome interview and totally worth listening to.

Talk about a class act. We should all try and be like Ms. Nichols.

Nichelle was also on The Viewtoday.

I read Nichelle Nichols' autobiography, "Beyond Uhura," probably close to 15 years ago, and her recollection about meeting Dr. King and the encouragement he gave her to continue with her role on Star Trek when she was seriously considering leaving the series still stands out for me. She is indeed an incredible and inspirational woman.

I think Nichelle's greatest contribution is to Girl Power in general. I've been watching Star Trek for as long as I can remember. It made a real impact when I was small--there was an episode where Uhura was in coveralls, under a console fixing something. You just didn't see that on TV, even in the early 70s. That was HUGE to me, that the pretty lady with the great earrings had mad skills with tools.

ETA: Nichelle is on Twitter right now and she just posted a direct link to the NPR interview.

If you want to follow her Tweets, she's @RealNichelle

Here's a picture of Obama and Nichelle, both doing the Vulcan Salute:

http://twitpic.com/95b6ki

Aquarius wrote:I think Nichelle's greatest contribution is to Girl Power in general. I've been watching Star Trek for as long as I can remember. It made a real impact when I was small--there was an episode where Uhura was in coveralls, under a console fixing something. You just didn't see that on TV, even in the early 70s. That was HUGE to me, that the pretty lady with the great earrings had mad skills with tools.

I have to agree with Aquarius. While I understood, even at 12, that Ms. Nichols was there to represent blacks (and rightfully so because they should belong to the crew of an Earth vessel), this white girl is glad she stayed because Uhura was one of the few female characters on TOS that made a good impression on me (Edith Keeler and Amanda Grayson being the other two). Uhura was there because she was good at her job. Uhura could be a boss (or at least out rank others) without being a stereotypical witch (feel free to correct the spelling). She was not there to moon after Spock. She was not there hoping and wishing she could be the captain's woman in the RU. She was not one of the parade of Kirk's alien bimbos of the week. She was not there just to be eye candy (although she was - and is - beautiful). I always figured that the automated hails the Enterprise sent out were recorded in her voice and that many times the first voice aliens heard, the voice of that beautiful ship, was Uhura's, not Kirk's.

I must say that I never understood the furor over "the kiss." OK, so it was between a white character and a black character, but neither character actively sought it out. They were forced into it by the power-mad alien of the week. It would have made more sense (if there is any "sense" to bigotry) to be upset about Sarek and Amanda - greenish, pointed-eared alien guy with white Earth girl. Not only did they kiss; they had a kid!