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Uhura, Nyota

Born in the United States of Africa, Earth in 2239, Uhura attended Starfleet Academy from 2257-61 and was assigned aboard the Communications officer, U.S.S. Enterprise under Capt. James T. Kirk in 2266. After her memory was erased in 2267 by the space probe called “Nomad” (in the original Star Trek series episode “The Changeling”), Uhura spent considerable time relearning her entire education. After the end of the ship’s initial five-year mission, she was promoted to lieutenant commander and assigned to the refit Enterprise as communications officer, initially under Capt. Willard “Will” Decker, but during the V’Ger crisis, wound up serving once again under Kirk. In 2277, she was assigned to Starfleet Academy as a cadet trainer. Prior to the Khitomer peace conference, Uhura returned to her former post aboard the Enterprise-A at the request of Captain Kirk. When the Enterprise went on a rescue mission of the Genesis development in 2285, Uhura, now a commander, was aboard, again as Communications officer. The following year, as shown in the film Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, Uhura takes an assignment at the transporter room. She stood with her shipmates to answer charges related to the theft of the Enterprise, but these charges were dropped. In 2287, Uhura oversaw the installment of upgraded communications systems on the new Enterprise NCC-1701-A. Uhura’s first name was never mentioned in the original science fiction series, but in the show-inspired novel series that followed, she was given the first name Nyota. James Blish’s non-canon novels identify her as Bantu, as does Gene Roddenberry’s novelization of Star Trek: The Motion Picture.

As shown in the original TV series and in the film Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, Uhura, played by Nichelle Nichols (1932-2022), was quite an accomplished singer. In the rebooted film series beginning with 2009’s Star Trek, Uhura was portrayed by Zoe Saldana. The black female astronaut Dr. Mae Jemison, who was the first astronaut to appear on a Trek series, cites the character of Nyota Uhura as a major influence on her decision to pursue her chosen career.

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