10 Obscure Star Trek Secrets That Took Years To Discover
4. The Reason Nichelle Nichols Decided To Stay
Nichelle Nichols had to deal with a lot of racist harassment during the first season of The Original Series, and later even learned that studio executives were hiding her fan mail.
Nichols wanted to leave the show at this point, but changed her mind after a chance encounter with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. at a fundraising event. She told Dr. King about her desire to leave the show, but he convinced her to stay, telling her that Uhura was one of the few black characters on television at the time who wasn't stereotypical, and who was treated as an equal on the cast. This random encounter with one of the most influential civil rights leaders in history helped Nichols realise the importance of her role on the show.
Nichols recalled this story during an interview with the Television Academy Foundation in 2011, which soon went viral.