Cynthia Littleton Business EditorWhen a major entertainment industry figure dies, I make a point of searching Variety’s archives to find the person’s first appearance in our pages.
The timing and context of an individual’s Variety debut is often extremely telling about the arc of their career. I did my usual search after the sad news broke July 31 that actor-singer Nichelle Nichols, the legendary Lt.
Uhura of the original “Star Trek” series and a true TV pioneer, had died at age 89. What I found made me wince. This trip back in time brought me face to face with the ugly history of racism and segregation in the entertainment business, as documented in our coverage.
It was jarring to see how utterly commonplace it was for the industry to otherize Black performers in the 1960s and ’70s when Nichols began her career as a singer and actor.
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