Her son, Kyle Johnson, said she died Saturday in Silver City, New Mexico. It was 89. Her role in the 1966-69 series as Lt. Nyota Uhura earned Nichols great respect from the series’ die-hard fans, known as Trekkers and Trekkies. It also won her awards for breaking racial stereotypes and featured an interracial on-screen kiss with co-star William Shatner that was unheard of at the time. Image: Photo: AP “Last night, my mother, Nichelle Nichols, succumbed to natural causes and passed away,” Kyle wrote on her Facebook page. “Its light, however, like the ancient galaxies we are now seeing for the first time, will remain for us and future generations to enjoy, learn from and draw inspiration from. “Her life was a good life and such a model for us all.” Star Trek co-star George Takei tweeted: “I’ll have more to say about the trailblazing, incomparable Nichelle Nichols, who shared the bridge with us as Lt. Uhura of the USS Enterprise and who passed away today at the age of 89. “For today, my heart is heavy, my eyes shine like the stars among which you now rest, my dear friend.” Image: Nichols is pictured with George Takei, Deforest Kelley, William Shatner, James Doohan and Leonard Nimoy in Star Trek VI Enterprise. Photo: Associated Press NASA Recruiter Like other members of the original cast, Nichols also appeared in six big screen spinoffs beginning in 1979 with Star Trek: The Motion Picture and frequented Star Trek fan conventions. She also served for many years as a NASA recruiter, helping to bring minorities and women into the astronaut corps. Star Trek’s primary message to viewers was that in the distant future—the 23rd century—human diversity would be fully accepted. “I think a lot of people took it to heart … that what was being said on television at the time was a reason to celebrate,” Nichols said in 1992. She often recalled how Martin Luther King Jr. was a fan of the show and praised her role. She met him at a civil rights rally in 1967, at a time when she had decided not to return for the show’s second season. “When I told him I was going to miss my co-stars and was leaving the show, he got really serious and said, ‘You can’t do this,’” she told a newspaper in 2008. “You’ve changed the face of television forever, and as a result, you’ve changed people’s minds,” the civil rights leader told her. “That insight that Dr. King had was a lightning bolt in my life,” Nichols said.
