Nichelle Nichols leaves Star Trek after first season

I’m at the Arisia science fiction convention and am listening to a talk by some people who were involved in the original Star Trek. They say that Nichols did not like her role and was set on leaving after the first season (she had wanted a bigger role than a glorified telephone operator). It would have taken a miracle to get her to stay.

Well, Gene Roddenberry responded by telling her to come to his office to talk to someone. It was Martin Luther King, who was a big fan. He told her that her role had done wonders to inspire people of color. This moved her deeply and convinced her to stay.

What would have happened had King not been able to come and Nichols left as planned? If she had left, who would have replaced her? Another African American woman? Or some other minority (if a minority at all)?
 
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I’m at the Arisia science fiction convention and am listening to a talk by some people who were involved in the original Star Trek. They say that Nichols did not like her role and was set on leaving after the first season (she had wanted a bigger role than a glorified telephone operator). It would have taken a miracle to get her to stay.

Well, Gene Roddenberry responded by telling her to come to his office to talk to someone. It was Martin Luther King, who was a big fan. He told her that her role had done wonders to inspire people of color. This moved her deeply and convinced her to stay.

What would have happened had King not been able to come and Nichols left as planned? If she had left, who would have replaced her? Another African American woman? Or some other minority (if a minority at all)?

Considering its still Roddenberry, Solow, et. al. running the show (and with Luci's support) they would find another African American actress (or actor). For Season 2, they were all ready looking for a "Davey Jones" like actor/character, so Walter Koenig's Pavel Chekov becomes the "new" Communications Officer" and the African American actress (or actor) chosen, after Koenig is hired, gets the "Navigator" chair. ** And maybe she gets some of Sulu's lines and/or plot roles, when Takei goes to shoot "The Green Berets", definitely more "face" time in the "front" seat.
 
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Well, Gene Roddenberry responded by telling her to come to his office to talk to someone. It was Martin Luther King, who was a big fan. He told her that her role had done wonders to inspire people of color. This moved her deeply and convinced her to stay.
I thought her meeting with King was at an Orlando hotel in March, 1968 and Roddenberry was not present.
 
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