5 ⭐ CW: sexual assault/attempted rape, sexual harassment, death of a parent, Challenger explosion

"Hailing frequencies open." 

Beyond Uhura: Star Trek and Other Memories by Nichelle Nichols is her memoir chronicling her life before, during, and after Star Trek . I'm sure I'm not surprising anyone when I say that Lt. Uhura has always been my favorite Star Trek character, and I've always admired Nichelle as well, so when I got this book for Christmas, I was ecstatic! 

As with Patrick Stewart's memoir, I was fascinated to learn more about Nichelle's life before Star Trek. I knew that she was a triple threat: dancer, singer, actor, but I didn't realize how prolific she was. We got to see how she started her career at only 14 and defied all expectations when she was admitted to an all white ballet school after almost being turned away at auditions for being black. We also get to learn about her family history. Nichelle was born to a progressive and mixed raced family at a time when it was still unacceptable in most of the country. The Nichols family even had brief run-ins with the mob! 

Nichelle also tells us of all the hardships of being a black woman performer due to racism and sexual harassment. I do have to say that she is a such a stalwart, badass woman who never backs down. She stood up to a prominent man in power for sexual assault (way before the Me Too movement), and stood up to a Hollywood executive that tried to pull a "sleep with me or you don't get the job." She never faltered and never stopped. I loved getting all the insight into what it was like being on Star Trek and seeing all the behind the scenes shenanigans the actors would get into, along with her relationship with Gene Roddenberry. 

I just love that Nichelle never stopped being an advocate for NASA and space education. She is the sole reason NASA was able to recruit women and minorities to the astronaut program. If you have a chance, I encourage you to watch the documentary Woman in Motion, which covers this in detail. Uhura was a huge inspiration to me growing up along with a lot of women and minorities. She is the reason real life astronaut Mae Jemisin became a scientist and why Whoopie Goldberg became an actress. She was even told by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to not quit Star Trek, because she was too important. 

We all sorely miss Nichelle Nichols, and remember her fondly as she has gone to that final frontier.