Why Nichelle Nichols (Uhura) stayed on Star Trek

[Tanuki]

Link to tweet

[soothsayer]

1. First interracial kiss on tv!

[mr_lebowski]

12. I'd say it was kinda the first obviously liberal-leaning show on TV

They did a decent job of making it subtle/part of the storylines, but the sensibilities are definitely there.

I take some pride in that it debuted like 1 month before I was born

[AllaN01Bear]

27. the southern tv stations that carried st pulled that epi, and the fans had a fit!

[lame54]

2. Why was she going to quit?

[ProfessorGAC]

11. IIRC, She Didn't...

...think the show would last, and didn't want to get typecast as a SciFi character.
As someone else here said, she's likely glad she listened to MLK's advice.
She's a legend, and with the movies & syndication, she has $ for 3 generations.

[JHB]

23. Professional reasons: She'd been offered a role in a Broadway-bound play

[Hekate]

3. I loved that show, and I loved her role in it

Glad she stayed on

[luvs2sing]

4. After Spock, she was my favorite.

I loved how cool and competent she was, even as a little kid. I wanted to grow up to be just like her.

[2naSalit]

9. Same here!

[lapucelle]

5. That's a great story. N/T

[soldierant]

24. I had heard it before

and it still brings a lump to my throat every. single. time.

[LunaSea]

6. One of the kids she inspired really went places.

[CloudWatcher]

29. Way cool

I hadn't heard that story, very nice, thanks for posting!!

[iluvtennis]

34. Same here. Thanks for the post. nt

[GeoWilliam750]

32. Thank you for sharing that

[unblock]

7. She delivered one of my favorite lines:

In response to sulu referring to her as a "fair maiden", she responds,

"Sorry, neither"

[PJMcK]

8. Dr. King accomplished two things

First, he convinced Ms. Nichols to stay on the show as a positive role model.

Second, he gave her the best career advice she probably ever got! By staying with the show, she became iconic.

[MFGsunny]

10. This! n/t

[PatrickforO]

13. I remember the big commotion when Nichols shared a kiss with Shatner.

The racists really crawled out of the woodwork.

Funny, apparently Shatner was kind of a jerk and most of the cast disliked him.

[dsc]

39. yeah he apparently was

it went so far that he had in his contract that if Nimoy got to direct then he had to be allowed to direct as well. Nimoy was a very good director, Shatner not so much.

[Trumpocalypse]

14. Here she is with another fan

[uponit7771]

16. +1

[FailureToCommunicate]

17. LOOK at those BEAMING smiles! They could power a starship.

[Cha]

20. Beautiful!

[warmfeet]

22. Now that is beautiful!

Live long and prosper.

[rickyhall]

15. Very nice lady.

I met her at a Star Trek Con in Dallas in 1983.

[a kennedy]

18. Now that is awesome........and I hate the word awesome......

love this.

[3catwoman3]

31. Some things actually deserve that...

...overused adjective. This is one of them.

[ashredux]

19. That is great...

Remember the planet where there was strife between the black/white faces and white/black faces ....

“ In the episode, the Enterprise encounters two survivors of a war-torn planet, each half black and half white, each committed to destroying each other.”

[dhol82]

26. "Don't you see it? He's right black!"

[ashredux]

28. No...Left Black!!

[dhol82]

36. We are enemies!

Kirk standing there going WTF?

Great episode.

[liberaltrucker]

35. "Let That Be Your Last Battlefield"

Season 3 Episode 15. Yeah, I'm a ST nerd.

[FailureToCommunicate]

21. Nichelle Nichols was (is) so genuine. Met both her and Roddenberry at a WFS meeting...

(World Future Society) many years ago and of the two, she was far more gracious, IMHO.
Roddenbury was just so worried that I would somehow pirate his tape of bloopers that he walked the cassette with me to the hall where we'd planned to show it.

Of course, I wasn't bothered...it gave me a chance to spend a surprise hour with the man, Gene, himself.

Peak experience for a rabid fan (me) of that very progressive show!

[Pluvious]

37. What a unique experience, thanks for sharing n/t

[FailureToCommunicate]

40. You are welcome. It was indeed unique.

[cagefreesoylentgreen]

25. Representation does matter

There’s this story from Whoopi Goldberg, where as a child, she saw Nichelle Nichols on TV for the first time and she yelled to her mother, “Momma, there’s a black lady on TV and she ain’t no maid!”

[Pluvious]

38. Is it ironic then...

... That decades later she'd be on TV, working 10 Forward as a barmaid ?

lol

[burrowowl]

30. Really liked Uhura!

[Shaddox]

33. This is always such a great story - what a wonderful, amazing, beautiful Woman!

History called and Nichelle answered.