You DID know that Nichelle Nichols, Lt. Uhura of Star Trek, didn't know her place in television history until Dr. Martin Luther King told her, right?
She was going to quit Star Trek until King spoke to her.
I never get tired of hear her tell her story of meeting King in the video below.
But did you also know that after the cancellation of Star Trek, Nichols volunteered her time in a special project with NASA?
In 1975, Nichols established Women in Motion, Inc., a company that produced educational materials using music as a teaching tool and was expanded to become an astronaut recruitment tool after Nichols won a grant from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). This resulted in thousands of women and minorities applying to NASA’s space program, such as Sally Ride, Judith Resnik, Ronald McNair, and Ellison Onizuka. In addition to her autobiography Beyond Uhura: Star Trek and Other Memories (1994), Nichols is co-author of Saturn’s Child (1995), and a contributor to publications of the National Space Institute.
In October of 1984, Nichols was presented with NASA’s Public Service Award for her many efforts towards integrating the U.S. space program. She was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1992, and became the first African American actress to place her handprints in front of Hollywood’s Grauman’s Chinese Theatre, along with the rest of the Star Trek cast. Nichols was elected as an honorary member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.; and, on June 8, 2010, she received an Honorary Doctorate Degree from Los Angeles Mission College.
A photo of
some of the black women
that went onto be astronauts
once Nichelle made sure that
glass ceiling was broken
Yvonne Cagle missed the group photo |
Read More About Nichelle
(There's plenty to know about this amazing woman)
(There's plenty to know about this amazing woman)
Nichelle Nichols meets Martin Luther King, Jr
Hearing her tell this story never ceases to move me. THIS is what Star Trek is all about.
Posted by Women of Star Trek on Monday, January 21, 2013
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