“More than any character in the entire Star Trek pantheon, Uhura is unique because everything was created by the actress, including the character’s name. During her audition, Nichols had a book tucked under her arm: the 1962 novel Uhuru, by Robert Ruark—a fictionalized account of the Mau Mau uprisings against landowners in Kenya during the 1950s. In Swahili, the word “Uhuru”means “freedom.””

Source: https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/tv/a39982146/star-trek-diversity-fell-short/

Black people are everywhere. Before Star Trek, they were only off-camera in ‘space’.