When I went to my first Star Trek Convention back in 2013 in Boston, it was because Sir Patrick Stewart was supposed to be there. I had even gotten my then-fiancé a ticket for the event specifically so he could meet him. In the end, Stewart cancelled. But I don’t think meeting him could compete with what I will forever remember as one of the greatest moments of my life: Nichelle Nichols taking my hand in hers while we took a photo together.
Recognizing a young interracial couple — me, a Black woman, and my fiancé, an Asian American — Nichols, the woman who comprised one half of the first interracial kiss on television, made the decision to arrange us for the photo. First, she had us stand on either side of her. Then she held our hands up in a statement of power.
Years later, I still feel emotional about that moment, which is a testament to Nichols’ thoughtfulness and awareness of her capacity to change the world. And today, a new documentary about how Nichols used that power begins streaming on Paramount+.
By now, many of us have heard the story of how Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. approached Nichols and told her about the significance of her role as Lieutenant Uhura. King told her that Star Trek was the only show he allowed his children to watch because her role as the chief communications officer showed them a vision of a world where Black people go to space. One might expect, therefore, that playing Uhura is Nichols’ greatest cultural contribution.
But Woman in Motion is unique in its emphasis, focusing not on Nichols’ impact on screen, but rather on the way she changed the U.S. space program through a partnership with NASA.
When she held my hand, Nichols did not know that I was one of under 100 Black American women to earn a PhD from a department of physics, or that at the time I was a Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Postdoctoral Fellow in Physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). In hindsight, I didn’t fully understand the power of the moment either. As a child of the 80s, I grew up with the NASA Space Shuttle Program, and at MIT, I worked in the Ronald McNair building, named for the MIT alumnus and physicist who became one of the first Black astronauts. McNair, one of only a handful of Black people to ever go to space, was recruited by Nichelle Nichols for NASA. In other words, Nichols had helped open the doors that I was walking through every single day.
An interrupted career that sparked others
Woman in Motion, which is named for Nichols’s STEM education company (one of the first to be run by a woman, we learn), begins with the Nichelle Nichols origin story. In Chicago, she was the only Black girl in all-white ballet classes, and also the child of a man who believed she would go on to become a star. Along the way, we learn that Nichols can sing, too (and viewers who stick around through the credits will get quite a treat on that front). Nichols began her career with the legendary Duke Ellington and his band, thinking she’d eventually spend her life on Broadway.
Instead, a chance casting by Gene Roddenberry in an episode of his show The Lieutenant would change the course of her life. The episode never aired; the network refused because it centered on race. Roddenberry was angered by this and began to think about how he would push further on issues of racism and equity. Not long after, he hatched the idea for Star Trek. Nichols was brought in to try out for the role of the communications officer. Not only did she get the role, she was also responsible for the character’s name, Uhura — a play on the word “uhuru,” which means “freedom” in Swahili.
Nichols tells viewers, “I became essentially who I became through Gene Roddenberry.” Though the original Star Trek series would only last for three seasons, Nichols also relays, “Star Trek interrupted my career.” She had, in fact, been thinking about leaving the show when Rev. King approached her at a National Association for the Advancement of Colored People event in Los Angeles.
Over the years at various Star Trek conventions, I’ve heard her tell this story, somewhat mournfully. I always remember it as an example of the myriad ways that Black folks are called on to sacrifice for the next generation. Nichols ultimately gave up her Broadway aspirations because Black kids needed to see her in space.
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