"Beyond Uhura" by Nichelle Nichols
Famous as Star Trek's Lieutenant Uhura, Nichols has lived long and prospered in quite a number of other endeavors besides acting, including singing, several varieties of dancing, songwriting, minority recruitment for NASA, space advocacy, and as an African American role model, wife, mother, daughter, and no-nonsense human being. The granddaughter of a slaveowner's son who married an African American woman more than a century ago and the daughter of a man who faced down one of Al Capone's hit squads, she has personally survived discrimination, family feuds, Hollywood, brushes with both the Mob and rape, and 30 years of the ups and downs of Star Trek (she is a definite partisan of Gene Roddenberry--hardly surprising, perhaps, since they considered marriage). Her frankness on all these matters eliminates any need for a future unauthorized biography. This fascinating and delightful book by and about someone who comes across as fascinating and delightful herself is a vital addition to both Star Trek literature and African American studies.
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