NH: I heard that the character of Uhuru was supposed to be much more than
an overgrown phone operator, but that the show started to get some scary
letters, including death threats, about a Black woman's presence on the
show, and the producers got scared and pressured Roddenberry into writing
her role smaller and smaller.
-nalo
On Mon, 31 Mar 1997, Laura Sells wrote:
> > always says "But what about Nichelle Nichols {Uhura}?" Well, she was,
> > in effect, the telephone operator, and she never questioned any order.
> > So, while she was conspicuious, I never saw her as strong.
>
> True, but we should also consider her historical circumstance. When TOS
> came on, just her presence was groundbreaking, not to mention the
> interracial kiss thing (of course, then we could get into the politics of
> oversexualizing women of color). I'm sure you've heard the standard story
> of Nichols being talked out of quitting by Martin Luther King because her
> very presence -did- make an impact, and then the standard story later of
> Mae Jameison (or however you spell it), "the black woman" astronaut, going
> into the space program because of Uhuru. There are times when even
> visibility alone is radical and progressive.
>
> Cheers,
> Laura Sells
>
"Words. She knows so many. She knows seven languages, and all of them
different, and in all of them she is hungry."
-Candas Jane Dorsey, _Black Wine_
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Thu May 25 2000 - 19:05:56 PDT