(WWJ) – “Star Trek” came to TV in the 1960s and immediately captured the imaginations of an entire generation. That impact, from the original series all the way through the latest iterations of the series, has endured.
And a massive part of the original “Star Trek” was Lieutenant Uhura, played by Nichelle Nichols, who died at the age of 89 on July 30.
On a new edition of “All Over the Space,” WWJ’s Erin Vee spoke with Mike Murray of the Delta College Planetarium in Bay City about the impact Nichols made on the screen and beyond.
Nichols, a Black woman playing a prominent TV role during the height of the Civil Rights Movement, was “the embodiment of a declaration splashed across billboards decades later: There Are Black People in the Future,” as The New York Times puts it.
“Her name means freedom in Swahili. And for a generation, she symbolized that: the freedom to be seen and appreciated for your talents, rather than being seen as a liability because of your color.”
Murray says Nichols’ legacy in the realm of space exploration went beyond the screen of a fictional future.
“She went on to work with NASA for recruiting, in order to get more diversity into the astronaut corps., and she was incredibly successful at it,” he said.
More information on the Delta College Planetarium in Bay City can be found online. Follow the planetarium on Facebook and Instagram for the latest news and updates.
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