Nichelle Nichols

Nichelle Nichols played Lieutenant Uhura on Star Trek — a role that changed American television and American culture. In 1966, the sight of a Black woman on the bridge of a starship, serving as a senior officer alongside white colleagues, was revolutionary. When Nichols considered leaving the show after the first season, Martin Luther King Jr. personally asked her to stay, telling her she was the first non-stereotypical role on television and that she couldn't abandon it.

Born Grace Dell Nichols in Robbins, Illinois, on December 28, 1932, Nichols was a singer and dancer who performed with Duke Ellington's band before entering acting. Gene Roddenberry cast her as Uhura, a name derived from the Swahili word for "freedom." The character was a revelation: intelligent, competent, and treated as an equal by her crewmates.

In 1968, Nichols and William Shatner performed what is widely regarded as the first interracial kiss on American network television — a moment that both excited and horrified viewers. After Star Trek, Nichols worked with NASA to recruit minority and female astronauts. Her efforts brought in Mae Jemison (the first Black woman in space), Sally Ride, Charles Bolden, and Ronald McNair. She literally helped assemble the team that made space more representative. She joined the ancestors on July 30, 2022, at 89.