“Actress and singer Nichelle Nichols, best known as Star Trek’s communications officer Lieutenant Uhura, died Saturday night in Silver City, New Mexico. She was 89 years old.
“”I regret to inform you that a great light in the firmament no longer shines for us as it has for so many years,” her son Kyle Johnson wrote on the website Uhura.com.
“”Her light, however, like the ancient galaxies now being seen for the first time, will remain for us and future generations to enjoy, learn from, and draw inspiration.”
“Nichols was one of the first Black women featured in a major television series, and her role as Lt. Nyota Uhura on the original TV series was groundbreaking: an African American woman whose name came from Uhuru, the Swahili word for “freedom.””
Read more at NPR
