Ricki Yasha TarrI'm not crying, you're crying.
Mr. 30㎝ 🍆💦 
🔞 [nsfw.lgbt]@RickiTarr I seem to recall hearing about how MLK, Jr. visited the set of Star Trek right about the time Nichelle Nichols was seriously considering leaving the show and Dr. King basically told her something to the effect that Lt. Uhura was basically the most important character on TV right now. Hearing that story moved me.
jmtuscg_gb
✶Rayotron✶In Nichols words this is what MLK said to her when she told him she was quitting Star Trek:
"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..."
Mae Jemison, the first black woman astronaut was inspired by her. Nichols worked with NASA to recruit Sally Ride and others.
Jhooper@rayotron @mike30030 @RickiTarr Whoopi Goldberg was inspired by Nichelle too. That's why she joined Star Trek TNG even though she had a ton of awards for the movies she was in already.
rainey 🌻@jhooper @rayotron @mike30030 @RickiTarr
"There's a Black lady on TV! And she ain't no maid!"
@raineyday @jhooper @mike30030 @RickiTarr
Yeah, when Nichelle Nichols showed up on Star Trek in the 1960s viewers understood, on a gut level, that it was revolutionary.
Another black TV pioneer to know is Hazel Scott. She was an ardent anti-segregationist. Her "The Hazel Scott Show" (1950) had no black maids. When she was in films she demanded that black characters in them be presented as dignified and intelligent. That ended her movie career.
@rayotron @jhooper @mike30030 @RickiTarr
Yes. Allegedly, this is what a young Whoopi Goldberg, née Caryn Johnson, shouted to her family the first time she saw Uhura.
@raineyday @jhooper @mike30030 @RickiTarr
Oh, no kidding! That's excellent! Whoopie's cool.