Nyota Uhura (AOS)

In Star Trek (2009), Uhura is a "human female who served as communications officer aboard the USS Enterprise under the command of Christopher Pike and then James T. Kirk in 2258."memory-alpha.org page accessed 2010-07-16 She participates as a secondary but important character in the events of the movie, and has a romance with reboot Spock. 
Uhura is of African heritage.
==Origins of the Name==
The name Uhura is based on the Swahili word uhuru, "freedom"Wikipedia:Uhura
Uhura's first name was never given in Star Trek: The Original Series.
The name "Nyota" was apparently first used in print by William Rostler in his book Star Trek II Biographies.Name and heritage section of Uhura's page at Memory-Alpha. (accessed May 24, 2009.) After that, it was used by many of the authors of the official tie-in novels, and eventually became fanon. Examples of it being used in the 1990s can be found in fanfiction posted to the Star Trek newsgroups.Trekiverse: Main Archive (accessed May 24, 2009.)
The 2009 movie used the name and it became canon.
See more at Uhura's First Name: Penda? Nyota?.
==Fan Opinions==
Opinion on Uhura's characterisation in the 2009 film varies. While some fans feel that she was degraded to the status of a love interestStar Trek, casablancagirl in canonrants. On Star Trek, wintercreek, May 9, 2009, accessed May 27, 2009, others felt that the new film allowed her to shine to boldly go..., lady-stiletto, May 10, 2009, accessed May 27, 2009. As LJC wrote:
:Sulu's awesome job moment was a kickass awesome sword fight, while Uhura's involved picking up on and translating a Klingon communication that set the entire plot in motion in her spare time, and then getting plucked from obscurity and assigned to the bridge because she speaks 3 dialects of Romulan when the Enterprise senior comm officer can't tell Romulan from Vulcan... Because Uhura's expertise is in the realm of "brainy" and not "brawny", mebbe it's not as visually cool. But for me, as a fangirl, I actually chalk being a kickass xenolinguist up there with samurai sword fight.Warning: Unpopular Fannish Opinions Ahead. Shields to maximum. Set phasers to stun., ljc, May 8, 2009, accessed May 27, 2009.
liviapenn noted that in the original film, Kirk, Spock, and Bones were central; in the reboot she sees the addition of Uhura to that triad as a profound shift, balancing the OT3 into a new OT4.Kirk, Spock, Bones & Uhura: the new OT4, liviapenn, May 27, 2009, accessed May 28, 2009. Others felt that Uhura was given a more important role in the film than in ST:TOS (in Livia's post, just referenced, she also noted "she's actually getting a promotion, in terms of her role in the character-driven parts of the plot[.]")
=== Pairings ===
The most popular Uhura pairing is Spock/Uhura, a canon relationship. The pair is sometimes featured in gen star trek reboot fanfics as well, and as a secondary pairing in Kirk/McCoy slash fics. The threesome pairing Kirk/Spock/Uhura is still rare but also featured. Uhura/Scotty and Uhura/McCoy are rare pairs, in many cases featured as a side pairing in fics where Kirk/Spock is the main pairing.
At fanfiction.net in the Star Trek (2009) section Spock/Uhura's stories are fair in number Spock/Uhura tagged stories at fanfiction.net (Accessed April 25, 2012), as the fans progressively felt compelled to further develop their relationship that is only hinted in the movie thus making Spock/Uhura the most popular het pair in the fandom and that is also canon in the franchise itself.
Many stories explore the possible beginnings of Spock and Uhura's romantic relationship, and take place pre-series, while the characters are still at Starfleet Academy. Writers dealing with this time period frequently make note of the difficulty of a teacher/student relationship, as well as the challenges of an inter-species romance. Stories set during the movie, or slightly afterwards are also popular. Writers expand upon Uhura's desire to comfort Spock after the destruction of his home world, and the loss of his mother.
In regards to femslash, she is usually paired up with her Orion roommate at Starfleet Academy, Gaila.
==Backlash Against Uhura==
While some fans simply disliked Uhura and her role in the movie, other fans actively bashed her. Some anti-fans used racist or misogynist language when speaking about Uhura. For instance, some of Uhura's anti-fans make a play on her name with the word "whore." 
Other people suggested that Uhura needed to be taken down a peg, a sentiment echoed in 2009 at the st_xi_kink meme: "So yeah, let's take this Uhura down from the pedestal. People claim that having her more assertive is good, but she's not assertive. She's a pushy bitch and everyone knows it, and if she wasn't a size zero ridiculously skinny and pretty, I think everyone would hate her." Anon in a thread at the Star Trek XI Kink Meme (Accessed August 21, 2010)
== Uhura and Race Issues ==
Racist comments (see spock_uhura for mod post on the topic. The original rant that inspired the mod post has been deleted, but excerpts can be found in this Unfunnybusiness post.OTP3: Trekkies, shipwars and racism. (Accessed May 22, 2009) sineala in OTP3: Trekkies, shipwars and racism (Accessed June 2, 2009) 
Not all race issues originate with Uhura's detractors. Even fans of the character can thoughtlessly stumble into painful territory. Offensive, race-based comments were enough of a concern that the moderator at the Spock/Uhura community felt it necessary to make an official post stating that: "if you have ANYTHING against Uhura (I'm going to talk specifically about Uhura and/or the actresses that play her - Nichelle Nichols and Zoe Saldana) then again, this is NOT your place. Racist comments = BAN." MOD POST, PLEASE READ. (Accessed June 4, 2009)
Further conflict arose in the community when a member began a discussion about Uhura's hair: "But there is one thing about Uhura's portrayal that is a little . . . off. [...] She has straight hair." Uhura and Black women's hair. (Accessed June 4, 2009)
The comments derailed in a manner familiar to anyone who has followed race-related discussions in fandom. Uhura's Hair. (Accessed June 4, 2009) Please to die in a fire. (Accessed June 4, 2009) The OP felt it necessary to leave the community after her post was ill-received, and set up an alternate community: uhuranspock4foc. bye. (Accessed June 4, 2009) 
The events surrounding that discussion led to a new co-mod, and a new policy at the community:During IBARW 2009, rawles wrote an essay arguing that women of color and white women approach feminism from different places, and that Uhura's role in this film needs to be understood through the lens of the reality that black characters tend to be invisible or marginalized in pop culture. She wrote:
On November 29, 2013, user Jamie Jeans mentioned Nyota Uhura and the fandom's treatment of her when he published an editorial and videolog titled "Solidarity Is For White Fangirls Only"(minute 7:45) in which he criticizes the fandoms' double standards when it comes to female characters that are women of color. In the videolog, following the backlash against Uhura after the first movie and also its sequel, Star Trek Into Darkness, he argues that a lot of kirk/spock shippers tend to perceive Uhura as someone who 'gets in the way of their ship' and therefore they try to justify their dislike for the character and the Spock/Uhura romance hiding their bias behind the false and unreasonable pro feminist arguments in which, for the most part, they complain that Uhura is reduced to just "the girlfriend". In particular, he addresses the fact that there is double standards in fans calling Uhura unprofessional for arguing with Spock while they are in a mission, all the while they give a free pass to Kirk and other male characters for all their very unprofessional moments through the movie and in the original series.
==Archives==
* Dreams of Africa, all ratings. (Note: Currently hosted on Geocities, may vanish after 2009.)
* The Uhura Ficfest, open to gen, het, or slash, any rating. Stories are from 2004 (so all TOS Uhura).
==Example fanworks==
===Fanfic===
* BreakYahtzee. Break, part one. Link to author's livejournal; story posted June 1, 2009. Last accessed July 3, 2009, by Yahtzee. Set in the reboot universe, the story is told from Uhura's point of view and delves into issues of her work, her Academy career and her relationship with Spock. 
* Lunch and Other ObscenitiesRheanna. Lunch and Other Obscenities. Link to author's website; story posted June, 2009. Last accessed July 3, 2009., by Rheanna. Set in the reboot universe, this story is about the relationship of Uhura and her Academy roommate, Gaila, and is told from Uhura's point of view.
* Another Boy, Another Planet by ninhursag. Uhura is extremely kick-ass and central to Starfleet in a reality where Kirk has been enslaved to Nero since infancy.
===Fanart===
* by grantgoboom, 2011
* by Dave-Daring, 2013
===Cosplay===
* by GamerZone18, 2013
===Other===
== Notes & Resources ==
* What do we know about Uhura?
* 5 Things You Should Know About Uhura (and How Awesome She Is)
* Nyota Uhura from The Original Series page at Memory Alpha (canon resource)
* Nyota Uhura (alternate reality) page at Memory Alpha (canon resource)
==References==
Category:Star Trek AOS Characters