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Uhura inspires women to reach for the stars
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Did this really surprise anybody?
Enterprise chief communications officer Nyota Uhura, played by Nichelle Nichols in the original series, is portrayed by actress Zoë Saldana in the 2009 film.
Uhura, one of the first major black characters on an American television series, inspired a generation of young black women in various ways. Whoopi Goldberg, who portrayed Guinan in Star Trek: The Next Generation, called to her mother when she first watched Star Trek: "There's a black lady on television, and she ain't no maid!" The anecdote is given by Nichelle Nichols in the documentary film Trekkies.
In the 1970s and 80s, NASA employed Nichols as a recruiter; many of her recruits were women and members of minority groups, including Guion Bluford, the first African-American astronaut, and Sally Ride, the first female American astronaut. Astronaut and physician Mae Jemison, the first African-American woman to fly aboard the Space Shuttle, is a Star Trek fan and has said the show was an influence on her career. (Jemison appeared briefly on Star Trek: The Next Generation in "Second Chances".
Much has changed since the original series aired in the 1960s, and Zoë Saldana's 2009 Uhura seems more of a force to be reckoned with in a career sense, although assessments of Nichols' Uhura as a mere space receptionist/sex symbol are oversimplifications of the character. The original Uhura was just as brilliant as the new one--her abilities just weren't played up as much. What the two Uhuras seem to share is an element of emotional wisdom.
In the 2009 Star Trek, Kirk's vain efforts to find out Uhura's first name become a running joke, until Spock finally calls her Nyota as they say farewell on the transporter pad. Nyota is the Swahili word for "star", a fact mentioned by William Shatner in Star Trek Memories.
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