Women of Colour in Nerd Spaces: Lieutenant Uhura

Creatives Section Editor Nirvana Prasad breaks down her love for Star Trek, and the invaluable progress made by women of colour through on-screen representation.

I’ve had a Star Wars phase, a Harry Potter phase, a Sherlock phase, and too many more to count. The common denominator?

Feeling ever so slightly out of place whenever I wanted to relate to someone.

Sometimes it was the feeling of having so much to say when I heard boys in my class talk about the Star Wars prequels, but having none of them take me seriously. Or the desire to cosplay as a character, but being told it “wouldn’t work” because of my skin colour or gender. Of course I could do it anyway, but that wouldn’t stop the nagging feeling of not fully belonging. Now, I look back and wonder—if I feel this way in the 20th century, what was it like for women of colour before me?

This brings me to Star Trek, my current obsession. 2026 marks the 60th anniversary of the show that started fandom as we know it, so I thought it would be a perfect time to share a bit about one of my favourite characters: Lieutenant Uhura, played by the late Nichelle Nichols.

We all know that the 1960s marked a time of social change in the western world, including the civil rights movement taking place in the USA. Racially discriminatory policies made it extremely difficult for people of colour to participate equally in many parts of society, including the entertainment industry, where women of colour were especially fetishised or only given roles fitting stereotypes. But I had heard Star Trek was different. I had heard that its creator, Gene Roddenberry, wanted to show us that there could be a future where all people were equal. So I started watching Star Trek: The Original Series, a low-budget, oddly-progressive show from the 1960s, never even expecting to find someone like myself.

Lieutenant Uhura was a senior officer on the bridge of a starship, performing vital functions in communications. From the beginning, I was amazed by her intelligence and resilience (and not to mention her beautiful hair and makeup). She had a mesmerising singing voice and was a real girls’ girl, having a genuine friendship with other female characters. Considering the difficulty I find in identifying with some of today’s “strong female characters,” I was surprised to realise I actually related to her more. But how could this be?

Upon some further reflection, I realised what had made her so different (at least in my opinion). It was the fact that she was no one’s love interest.

Almost every other woman in the show, even aliens, who were mostly portrayed by white actresses, were viewed as a male character’s love interest. Whether that was Nurse Chapel with the unattainable Mr Spock, or alluring alien women there to charm Captain Kirk, the fact remained that their characters were built to be a man’s lover. But due to society’s systemic racism, it likely wouldn’t have worked to have Uhura, a black woman, in a romantic relationship with any of the leading white men. Although this is in some ways very sad for a character as wonderful as hers to never find love, it gave us something very valuable. Because if she couldn’t be written as a love interest, then the writers were forced to give her other interests and depth that did not rely on a man. 

In an interview, Nichols once explained that her passion was for musical theatre, so she had planned to leave her role in Star Trek after the first season to pursue a role she was offered in a Broadway-bound play [1]. However, after she handed in her resignation letter, Roddenberry asked her to take the weekend to reconsider because of how important her role was to the future Star Trek wanted to show. 

Nichols went on to explain that over the weekend, she was a celebrity guest at an NAACP fundraiser, where someone told her there was a fan asking to meet her. To her surprise, this fan was none other than Dr Martin Luther King Jr., who went on to tell Nichols that his whole family loved her work in Star Trek, and it was the only show he and his wife Coretta would let their children stay up late to watch. Thanking him, Nichols began to explain that she would be leaving after the end of the season, but he stopped her. Dr King told her something that changed everything. Recounting his words, Nichols said:

“[H]e said, 'You cannot, you cannot... For the first time on television, we will be seen as we should be seen every day—as intelligent, quality, beautiful people who can sing, dance, and go to space… who are professors, lawyers… If you leave, that door can be closed, because your role is not a black role, and is not a female role; he can fill it with anybody, even an alien [1].”

It’s the last part of that which really hit me hard. The fact was that the role of Lieutenant Uhura was not made to fit a label, like ‘black’ or ‘female’, but that she was just an ordinary person. She was smart and hardworking and confident, but she was also just as human as anyone else, feeling fear and frustration and despair. She could sing and dance and go to space, not because she was in love with a man or for any other reason, but because she was a person. Just like me. 

There are countless more impacts Nichols had on breaking barriers for black women and women of colour. She was part of the first scripted interracial kiss on television (also from Star Trek), started an organisation called Women in Motion, and actively worked to recruit minority and female staff for NASA [2]. 

I can definitely say that although the show wasn’t perfect (considering some of the 1960s values it reflected), I am so grateful to have been able to watch Nichelle Nichols as Lieutenant Uhura. To this day, sixty years since she began the role, she still makes girls like me feel seen and heard, and gives us hope that maybe we really can have a future where we’re all equal. 

[1] Nichols, N. (2010, October 13). Nichelle Nichols [Video]. Interview by S. J. Abramson. Television Academy Foundation. https://interviews.televisionacademy.com/interviews/nichelle-nichols?chapter=4&clip=44578#about

[2] Delmont, M. (2018, September 5). Fifty Years Ago, “Star Trek” Aired TV’s First Interracial Kiss. Smithsonian Magazine. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/fifty-years-ago-star-trek-aired-tvs-first-interracial-kiss-180970204/