Anyone who grew up in or around science fiction will hear the phrase “to boldly go” and think Star Trek (the original series). And that’s the case here. To Boldly Go: How Nichelle Nichols and Star Trek Helped Advance Civil Rights is a 2023 nonfiction picture book written by Angela Dalton and illustrated by Lauren Semmer that tells the story of Nichelle Nichols, her life and career (including Star Trek), and how she used her experience and representation to advance civil rights.
There’s an afterword to the book where Dalton describes her own experience watching reruns of Star Trek as a child, and how she and her parents looked forward to the show because it showed Nichols (who played Lt. Uhura), a Black woman, playing an active role in creating humanity’s future in space. That anticipation, and the recognition of how important representation is, also starts the book, with a first person narrative from a girl’s point of view (one assumes it is Dalton). That point of view fades out, though, and the bulk of the story tells Nichols’s story.
I learned things about Nichols I had never known, from the sad (childhood illness) to the striking (her time touring with Duke Ellington). The heart of the story, though, is her position on Star Trek and everything around it or that flowed from it. She planned to quit due to the racism she experienced on the show until she met a fan at a fundraiser: Dr. King, who argued how important her role on Star Trek was to others. It wasn’t just a role, she was a role model.
Since Nichols stayed on the show, her decision is likely known to adult readers–but even they might not know about her active role in recruiting more women and people of color to NASA, helping create a more diverse community of space explorers who might help bring a future like Star Trek‘s into being.
I was surprisingly moved by this book, and suggest it to those who want to explore the relationship between art and life, emphasize the value of representation, and/or explore the varied ways racism has affected this country.
