Nichelle Nichols, the USS Enterprise’s Lt. Uhura, dies at 89

polygon.com:

Nichelle Nichols, best known as the communications officer Lt. Nyota Uhura of the starship Enterprise, died July 30. She was 89. Her groundbreaking performances in Star Trek, corresponding with the Civil Rights movement in the United States, helped set the first standard for diversity and inclusion in mainstream screen entertainment.

As Uhura, Nichols was a core presence during Star Trek’s original run on NBC from 1966 to 1969. To that point, Black actresses were largely given servile or ancillary roles in television and theater. But Nichols, radiating professionalism and 1960s mod-style sex appeal from her chair on the Enterprise’s bridge, opened a channel to Hollywood for stars like Diahann Carroll, Cicely Tyson, and Pam Grier.

Born Grace Dell Nichols on Dec. 28, 1932 in the Chicago suburb of Robbins, Illinois, she modeled and starred in several stage plays during her 20s and 30s, including James Baldwin’s Blues for Mister Charlie, before her breakthrough on Star Trek.

Despite her success in Star Trek’s first season, Nichols felt called to Broadway, and tendered her resignation to show creator Gene Roddenberry after receiving several offers for major stage roles. The following weekend, she was a celebrity guest at an NAACP banquet, where she met the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

“As a matter of fact, [Star Trek] is the only show that my wife Coretta and I will allow our little children to stay up and watch, because it’s on past their bedtime,” King said, according to Nichols’ recollection for the Television Academy Foundation.

“And I got the courage to say, ‘I really am going to miss my co-stars,’ and he said, ‘What do you mean?’ I said, ‘I’m leaving Star Trek,’ and he said, ‘You cannot.’ […] He said, ‘For the first