Uhura (TOS)

See also Nyota Uhura (2009)

Name:	Uhura
Occupation:	Communications officer
Title/Rank:	Lieutenant (eventually Commander)
Location:	USS Enterprise
Status:
Relationships:
Fandom:	Star Trek: The Original Series
Other:	Uhura on the cover of Furaha #4 (1975)
Click here for related articles on Fanlore.

Uhura's first name was never given in the original series. Lacking an official first name for Uhura, early Star Trek fans often called her "Penda."

TOS's writer bible suggested that Uhura's birthplace was the United States of Africa, although this was never outright stated in canon. Uhura is known to speak Swahili. Fanon holds that Uhura is from Kenya, an idea supported by the tie-in novels.

Cultural Impact

Cover of Probe Special Issue 1 "The Goddess Uhura" (1976)

After the first season, Nichelle Nichols was tempted to leave the series. In a recent interview , she recounts that her increased popularity due to the show led her to think about working toward a Broadway career (Ms. Nichols is a singer and a dancer/choreographer.) In the past, she has also spoken of her frustration at the limitations imposed on her role on the series. She faced oppressive resistance from a network concerned about the reactions of its affiliates to her presence onscreen; her lines in scripts were often cut. A conversation with Martin Luther King, Jr. changed her mind. He told her that she was an important role model for young black children and women across the country. Indeed, Uhura was a positive influence. Actress Whoopi Goldberg, and astronaut Mae Jamison both claim Uhura as an early role model. In her book of essays, Racism 101, Nikki Giovanni writes "I've [] been a Trekkie since the television series Star Trek began. I was intrigued that a sister, Nichelle Nichols, was the communications officer."

After the series ended, Nichols volunteered her time in a successful NASA campaign aimed at recruiting African Americans and women.

The TOS episode "Plato's Stepchildren" is often cited as one of the first interracial kisses on U.S. television. In the episode, a mind controlled Captain Kirk and Lieutenant Uhura kiss. Both Shatner and Nichols claim that there was no actual physical contact between them during the scene in question, due to pressure from NBC.

While the studio was concerned about reaction to the episode, viewer reaction was largely positive. Nichols said:

"The mail poured in. We had more mail on that episode than any other episode in all of the time of Star Trek. But Gene [Roddenberry] said to me over a letter from the fanmail, 'This one letter in here, this is the extent of the negative mail that we've received.' And it was from a man in the South who said 'I don't believe in the integration of races and the fraternization of the races, but anytime a red-blooded American boy like Captain Kirk gets a girl in his arms that looks like Lieutenant Uhura, he ain't gonna fight it.' So so much for the worries and the concerns about whether people can handle it, so I think we knew we were on the right track."

Some fans have turned a more critical eye on the kiss: "But... am I the only one who is really bothered by this being used as a great example of something wonderful, since the Kirk/Uhura kiss is clearly non-consensual by both parties and is actually a form of sexual harassment/assault"? Rather than breaking down taboos, some feel that the kiss was subtly reinforcing the idea that white men had a right to black women's bodies. "That the kiss was forced instead of wanted leaves an awful taste reminiscent of a slave master raping his female slave."

Penda/Nyota

Regarding Uhura's first name: fanon vs canon:

Putting [a history of K/S fandom] together would be a pain in the royal ass, though, and would have to include some of the history of general Trek fandom as well. A good point is Uhura's first name. I don't know when the COMPENDIUM came out, but "Nyota" is not how I think of Uhura. Penda was used in a story in the 70's (does anyone know which one?) and fandom took it up. It was one of those things which seemed right and was used by so many that it became part of the fannish lexicon even though it wasn't in the aired Trek. When an author uses Penda. it says she has either read a lot of the old zines or she is an old-time fan..

Secondary Canon

• Uhura's Song by Janet Kagan is a Star Trek: TOS tie-in novel that gives Uhura a leading role.
• Nichelle Nichols contributed a story to Star Trek: The New Voyages' second issue.

Zines

Caption: You say the black crewmembers have siezed all the weapons and are in a state of mutiny? And that we're in terrible danger? What do you mean "we" white man?" (cartoon showing Uhura from the early 1970's, by Alan Haney)

Uhura on the cover of Interstat #6, by Heather Firth (1978)

• Amani, the newsletter of the Nichelle Nichols Fan Club, and the Nichelle Nichols Fan Club Yearbook.
• Delta Triad, a seven-issue Kirk/Uhura zine published between 1974 and 1984.
• Furaha, an anthology zine (edited by Virginia Walker) dedicated to Uhura that ran to at least three issues, all published in 1975. The issues were short, averaging 54 pages. Contributors included Stephen Clarke, Robin Hill, Winston Howlett, Merrie K, Ros O. Ludwing, T'Lay, Anji Valenza, Ellen Vartanoff, Laura Virgil, A. Stuart Walker, Virginia Walker, Johanna Cantor, D.L. Collin, Joel Davis, Jeff Maynard, Jack Townsend, Joni Wagner, Shirley Maiewski, Elizabeth Marshall, Diane McClaugherty, and Sam Segal. The third issue also featured a poem by Nichelle Nichols.
• Hyperion, a gen fanzine which features Uhura as a Captain on the USS Hyperion, published in 2004.
• Kefrendar, an Uhura novel by Bonnie Reitz, published in 1988, set after Star Trek: The Voyage Home. Reprinted in The Worlds of Bonnie Reitz.
• Kiku, a 1986 Kirk/Uhura novel by Jacqueline Comben.
• Spock's Ever Logical Equation, a 1984 Spock/Uhura novel by Millie Fabricius.
• Starbound, an Uhura anthology with at least 3 issues (1998-1990)
• Woman, Warrior, Wife, a gen anthology dedicated to Nichelle Nichols

Gallery

• 

  from The Weight by Leslie Fish, Uhura and James Kirk

• 

  Nichelle Nichols costumed as Aida (reprinted from T-Negative #19, 1973) on the cover of The Star Trek Songbook #3, by George Barr (1976)

• 

  Uhura on the cover of Idylls #2 (1987)

• 

  Uhura on the cover of T-Negative #3, by Greg Jein (1969)

• 

  Uhura on a cover of Engage!, a zine from the 1990s

Archives

• Dreams of Africa, all ratings. (Note: Was hosted on Geocities, now defunct)
• The Uhura Ficfest, open to gen, het, or slash, any rating. Stories were posted in 2004.

External Links

• Memory Alpha (TOS Uhura)
• What do we know about Uhura?
• 5 Things You Should Know About Uhura (and How Awesome She Is) by laurajv