6 Major Black ‘Star Trek’ Characters Who Were Scene Stealers

Star Trek is a science-fiction franchise spanning comics, books, film and television. These are some of the main Blerd figures from the Star Trek saga.

Uhura

Nyota Uhura

Nyota Uhura is a character in Star Trek: The Original Series, Star Trek: The Animated Series, the first six Star Trek films, the 2009 film Star Trek, and its 2013 sequel Star Trek Into Darkness.

In 2266, Uhura (played originally by Nichelle Nichols and later by Zoe Saldana) began her Starfleet career as a communications officer aboard the USS Enterprise with the rank of lieutenant in the command division.

In the following years of that vessel’s historic five-year mission, she was transferred to the operations division where she proved to be a proficient technician and was considered by Captain Kirk to be a capable and reliable bridge officer, manning the helm, navigation and main science station when the need arose.

 320x240

Lieutenant Commander Geordi La Forge

In Star Trek: The Next Generation, which aired from 1987 to 1994 and was the basis of four Star Trek movies, Lieutenant Commander Geordi La Forge is the chief engineer of the Starship Enterprise.

In Star Trek: First Contact, La Forge (portrayed by LeVar Burton) and the Enterprise-E travel back in time to the 21st century to stop the Borg from preventing mankind’s first warp space flight. The inventor of the warp drive is a financially motivated, white alcoholic named Zefram Cochrane who lives in Bozeman, Montana. La Forge has to hold his hand to get him to launch the Phoenix and make “first contact” with the Vulcans.

12 Black Scientists You Should Know Who Are Making an Impact Today

Aprille Ericsson

Aerospace Engineer, 
NASA

Aprille Ericsson was the first female to receive a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from Howard University. She was the first African-American female to receive a Ph.D. in engineering at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. She was born and raised in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood in Brooklyn, New York, and earned her bachelor’s in aeronautical/astronautical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

 

Lisa Stevens

Giant Panda Curator, National Zoo

Lisa Stevens became a familiar face, manning the giant panda program in 2005 when panda cub Tai Shan was born at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C. Before joining the zoo’s staff, she held positions as a field research assistant, in pet and aquarium retail, veterinary clinic operations and insect zoo husbandry and interpretation. She has a bachelor’s degree in zoology and pre-veterinary medicine from Michigan State University and attended the AZA School for Professional Management Development for Zoo and Aquarium Personnel.

1280px-James_West

James West

Acoustician and Inventor

James West was born in 1931 in Prince Edward County, Virginia, and studied physics at Temple University. After graduating, West worked in tech, specializing in microphones, and went on to author 200 patents. In 1962, with Gerhard Sessler, West developed the foil electret microphone. West was a research professor at Johns Hopkins University in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. West also founded the Association of Black Laboratory Employees.