“Forgotten Hollywood”- A Ground Breaking Role…

Posted on July 31, 2022 by raideoman1 | No Comments

Manny P. here…

“`Nichelle Nichols was a small screen pioneer for her portrayal of Starship Communications Officer Lieutenant Uhura in Star Trek. She broke color barriers, and along with Diahann Carroll, helped re-define roles for Black characters. In 1968, Nichols and William Shatner broke a cultural barrier when they engaged in the initial interracial kiss on network television. She workd as a singer and dancer and would eventually tour with Duke Ellington and Lionel Hampton before her acting career took off.

“`Star Trek became a pop culture phenomenon and shattered stereotypes common on television at the time by casting Black and minority actors in high-profile roles on the show.  She had planned to quit the after one season, but Martin Luther King Jr. convinced her to stay because it was so revolutionary to have a Black woman portraying a senior crew member at a time when Black people were fighting for equality in American society. She influenced future actors (Whoopi Goldberg); a future president (Barack Obama); and generations of female astronauts such as Sally Ride.

“`Nichols also helped break color barriers at NASA.  Many of their employees were Star Trek fans. After she criticized the space agency for failing to hire qualified women and minorities as astronauts, it hired Nichols in the 1970s to help in recruiting.

“`Nichelle Nichols (above right) was eight-nine.

Until next time>                               “never forget

This entry was posted on Sunday, July 31st, 2022 at 8:12 pm and is filed under Blog by Manny Pacheco. You can follow any comments to this post through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.


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