deejaybird:

“Uhura” comes from the Swahili word UHURU meaning “freedom”. Uhura was pretty much the first ever black main character on American television who was not a maid or a domestic servant in 1966. TV network NBC refused to let Nichelle Nichols be a regular, claiming Deep South affiliates would be angered, so Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry hired her as a “day worker,” but still included her in almost every episode. She actually made more money than any of the other actors through this workaround, and it was kept secret from the other actors, but it was still a humiliating second-class status. The network people made life hard for Nichols, constantly trying to pare down her screen time, purposefully dropping racist comments in her presence and even withholding her fan mail from her.This deplorable state of affairs led Nichols to make the decision to quit after the 1st season, but then she happened to meet the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. who pleaded with her to stick with the show because as a Black woman she was portraying the first non-stereotypical role on television. I had a crush on Uhura as a kid. LOL.

1. lucionguyen762 reblogged this from wilwheaton
2. frau-maus liked this
3. stc-technologies-for-students reblogged this from ryankiefer
4. hand-taschenp-reise reblogged this from wilwheaton
5. how-to-apply-faq reblogged this from wilwheaton
6. guide-to-creating-wealth-online reblogged this from wilwheaton
7. softerthanasummernight liked this
8. bookbek reblogged this from living400lbs
9. nastyanalfruitsalad liked this
10. nastyanalfruitsalad reblogged this from ea5e95
11. hedownwithskeletor liked this
12. txangala reblogged this from ea5e95
13. ihateemma liked this
14. juliangulian liked this
15. theartofeasing liked this
16. ea5e95 reblogged this from the-soulful-malefactor and added:

    “Uhura” comes from the Swahili word UHURU meaning “freedom”. Uhura was pretty much the first ever black main character...

17. the-soulful-malefactor reblogged this from soulsonic-creature
18. soulsonic-creature reblogged this from cherrybananapumpkinpie
19. johnmichaelblaves liked this
20. michisaurus reblogged this from 43619
21. weareallprostitutesandjunkies liked this
22. lukasvonincher reblogged this from bitterjamie
23. kiransingh reblogged this from deejaybird
24. thecoldseahorse liked this
25. skeyesofbleu reblogged this from poohtoyourchristopherrobin
26. capricciosso liked this
27. godofloki-d reblogged this from assistantnursejoy
28. nubivagantmusings reblogged this from deejaybird
29. anniepagliacci reblogged this from ifuckinglovestartrek
30. theintimatecompanion liked this
31. chanxthexman reblogged this from pearls-and-machine-guns
32. ignorethegrin reblogged this from pearls-and-machine-guns
33. pearls-and-machine-guns reblogged this from overlord-of-pasta
34. jessmarian reblogged this from verbum-sat-sapienti
35. homeopathic-firebombs liked this
36. gayscifiguy reblogged this from nathandrakeismylover
37. gayscifiguy liked this
38. whatifshestayedinwonderland liked this
39. flamesofatimelord reblogged this from sodomymcscurvylegs
40. irkalla liked this
41. sodomymcscurvylegs reblogged this from fbotu
42. theydonotmove reblogged this from teanjellybeans
43. This was featured in #Vintage
44. deejaybird posted this