Dick Gregory

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Dick Gregory

Dick Gregory (born Richard Claxton Gregory on October 12, 1932) is an American

United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
comedian

Comedian

A comedian or comic is a person who seeks to entertain members of an audience, primarily by making them laughter. This might be through jokes or amusing situations, or acting a fool, as in slapstick, or employing prop comedy....
, social activist, writer

Writer

A writer is anyone who creates a written work, although the word usually designates those who write creatively or professionally, as well as those who have written in many different forms....
and entrepreneur

Entrepreneur

An entrepreneur is a person who has possession of an organization, or venture, and assumes significant accountability for the inherent risks and the outcome....
.

Born in St. Louis, Missouri

St. Louis, Missouri

St. Louis is an independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri, located near the confluence of the Mississippi River and the Missouri River. St....
, Dick Gregory is an influential American

United States

Civil rights

Civil and political rights are a class of rights ensuring things such as the protection of peoples' physical integrity; procedural fairness in law; protection from discrimination based on sexism, religious intolerance, Racism, Homophobia, etc; individual freedom of freedom of belief, freedom of speech, freedom of association, and freedom...
. Influenced to stand up for civil rights by his early surroundings of poverty and violence, Gregory became the first comedian to successfully perform for both black and white audiences.

poor student who excelled at running, Gregory was aided by teachers at Sumner High School

Sumner High School (St. Louis)

Sumner High School, also known as Charles E. Sumner High School, is a St. Louis public high school that was the first high school for African-American students west of the Mississippi River....
such as Warren St.

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Quotations

I am really enjoying the new Martin Luther King Jr stamp - just think about all those white bigots, licking the backside of a black man.

I never believed in Santa Claus because I knew no white dude would come into my neighborhood after dark.

I never learned hate at home, or shame. I had to go to school for that.

If they took all the drugs, nicotine, alcohol and caffeine off the market for six days, they'd have to bring out the tanks to control you.

In most places in the country, voting is looked upon as a right and a duty, but in Chicago it's a sport.

When you have a good mother and no father, God kind of sits in. It's not enough, but it helps.

Encyclopedia

Dick Gregory (born Richard Claxton Gregory on October 12, 1932) is an American

United States

Comedian

Writer

Entrepreneur

An entrepreneur is a person who has possession of an organization, or venture, and assumes significant accountability for the inherent risks and the outcome....
.

Born in St. Louis, Missouri

St. Louis, Missouri

St. Louis is an independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri, located near the confluence of the Mississippi River and the Missouri River. St....
, Dick Gregory is an influential American

United States

Civil rights

Overview

Early life

As a poor student who excelled at running, Gregory was aided by teachers at Sumner High School

Sumner High School (St. Louis)

Southern Illinois University Carbondale

Southern Illinois University Carbondale is located in Carbondale, Illinois, Illinois. The Carbondale campus is the flagship campus of the Southern Illinois University system, which includes SIU's smaller sister institution Southern Illinois University Edwardsville....
. There he set records as a half-miler and miler. His college career was interrupted by two years in the U.S. Army where he got his start in comedy, entering and winning several Army talent show

Talent show

A talent show is a live performance spectacle where contestants perform acting, singing, dancing, acrobatics, and other art forms. Talent shows have been around since the beginning of time....
s at the urging of his commanding officer, who had taken notice of his penchant for joking.

Career

After completing military service

Armed forces

The armed forces of a country are its government-sponsored defense, fighting forces, and organizations. They exist to further the foreign and domestic policies of their governing body, and to defend that body and the nation it represents from external and internal aggressors....
, he performed as a comedian in small, primarily black nightclub

Nightclub

A nightclub is a Alcoholic beverage, Dance and entertainment Music venue which does its primary business after dark. People who frequent nightclubs are known as clubbers....
s while working for the United States Postal Service

United States Postal Service

The United States Postal Service is an Independent agencies of the United States government responsible for providing postal service in the United States....
during the daytime. In 1961, while working at the Black-owned Roberts Show Bar in Chicago, he was hired by Hugh Hefner

Hugh Hefner

File:Hefner 1973 .jpgHugh Marston Hefner , sometimes known simply as Hef, is an American magazine publisher, founder and Chief Creative Officer of Playboy Enterprises....
to work at the Chicago

Chicago

Chicago is the largest city in the U.S. state of Illinois and the Midwestern United States, as well as the List of United States cities by population city in the United States with more than 2.8 million residents....
Playboy Club

Playboy

Playboy is an American men's magazine, founded in Chicago, Illinois, by Hugh Hefner and his associates, which has grown into Playboy Enterprises, with a presence in nearly every medium....
after Hefner heard him wow a largely-white audience with the following routine:

Good evening ladies and gentlemen. I understand there are a good many Southerners in the room tonight. I know the South very well. I spent twenty years there one night.

Last time I was down South I walked into this restaurant and this white waitress came up to me and said, "We don't serve colored people here." I said, "That's all right. I don't eat colored people. Bring me a whole fried chicken."

Then these three white boys came up to me and said, "Boy, we're givin' you fair warnin'. Anything you do to that chicken, we're gonna do to you." So I put down my knife and fork, I picked up that chicken and I kissed it. Then I said, "Line up, boys!"

Active in the civil rights movement

Civil rights movement

The Civil Rights Movement was a worldwide political movement for equality before the law occurring approximately between 1960 to 1980. It was accompanied by much civil unrest and popular rebellion....
, he came to Selma, Alabama

Selma, Alabama

Selma is a city in and the county seat of Dallas County, Alabama, Alabama, United States, located on the banks of the Alabama River. The population was 20,512 at the United States Census, 2000....
and spoke for two hours on a public platform two days before the voter registration drive known as "Freedom Day" (October 7, 1963) (Howard Zinn

Howard Zinn

Howard Zinn is a professor, political science, history, Social criticism, democratic socialist, activist and playwright, best known as author of the bestseller A People's History of the United States....
, You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train [Beacon Press, 1994; rev. ed. 2002], p. 58).

Dick Gregory's first TV appearance was on the Jack Paar

Jack Paar

Jack Harold Paar was an United States radio and television talk show host most noted for his stint as host of The Tonight Show....
late night show. He soon began appearing nationally and on television and his 1964 autobiography

Autobiography

An autobiography is a biography written by its subject . The term was first used by the poet Robert Southey in 1809 in the English language Periodical publication Quarterly Review, but the form goes back to antiquity....
, Nigger
Nigger (1964 book)

Nigger is the autobiography of comedian and social activist Dick Gregory.It was written during the American Civil Rights Movement . Gregory explained his choice of title in the book's foreword, answering his mother's objection,...
, has sold ten million copies. At the same time, he became more involved in struggles for civil rights, activism against the Vietnam War

Vietnam War

The Vietnam War, also known as the Second Indochina Wars, the Vietnam Conflict, or often in Vietnam the American War occurred in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia from 1959 to April 30, 1975....
, economic reform, anti-drug issues, conspiracy theories, and others. As a part of his activism, he went on several hunger strike

Hunger strike

A hunger strike is a method of non-violent resistance or pressure in which participants fasting as an act of political protest, or to provoke feelings of guilt in others, usually with the objective to achieve a specific goal, such as a policy change....
s. Gregory began his political career by running against Richard J. Daley

Richard J. Daley

Richard Joseph Daley served for 21 years as the undisputed Democratic Political boss of Chicago and is considered by historians to be the "last of the big city bosses." He played a major role in the History of the United States Democratic Party, especially with his support of John F....
for the mayoralty of Chicago in 1967. Though he did not emerge victorious, this would not prove to be the end of Dick Gregory's dalliances with electoral politics.

Gregory unsuccessfully ran for President of the United States

President of the United States

The President of the United States is the head of state and head of government of the United States and is the highest political official in the United States by influence and recognition....
in 1968 as a write-in candidate

Write-in candidate

A write-in candidate is a candidate in an election whose name does not appear on the ballot, but for whom voters may vote nonetheless by writing in the person's name....
of the Freedom and Peace Party, which had broken off from the Peace and Freedom Party

Peace and Freedom Party (United States)

The Peace and Freedom Party is a ballot-listed minor political party in California. It is a left-wing feminist and socialist party. Although its first candidates appeared on the ballot in 1966, the national party was founded in 1967 as a Left-wing politics organization opposed to the Vietnam War....
. He won 47,097 votes (including one from Hunter S. Thompson

Hunter S. Thompson

Hunter Stockton Thompson was an United States journalist and author, most famous for his novel Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas . He is credited as the creator of Gonzo journalism, a style of journalism where reporters involve themselves in the action to such a degree that they become central figures of their stories....
) with fellow activist Mark Lane

Mark Lane (author)

Mark Lane is a U.S attorney and author of many books, including the bestseller, Rush to Judgment. This book was one of two major books published in the immediate wake of the John F....
as his running mate in some states, David Frost in others, garnering more than the party he had left. The Freedom and Peace Party also ran other candidates, including Beulah Sanders for New York State Senate

New York State Senate

The New York State Senate is one of two houses in the New York State Legislature and has members each elected to two-year terms. There are no limits on the number of terms one may serve....
and Flora Brown for New York State Assembly

New York State Assembly

The New York State Assembly is the lower house of the New York Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. state of New York. The Assembly is composed of 150 members representing an equal amount of districts, with each district having an average population of 128,652....
. His efforts landed him on the master list of Nixon political opponents

Master list of Nixon political opponents

A master list of Nixon political opponents was compiled to supplement the original Nixon's Enemies List of 20 key people considered opponents of President of the United States Richard Nixon....
.

He then wrote Write Me In about his presidential campaign. One interesting anecdote in the book related the story of a publicity stunt which came out of Operation Breadbasket

Operation Breadbasket

Operation Breadbasket was an organization dedicated to improving the economic conditions of black communities across the United States of America....
in Chicago where the campaign had printed $1 bills with Gregory's image on them. Some of these bills made it into circulation in cash transactions causing considerable problems, but priceless publicity.

The majority of these bills were quickly seized by the Federal Govt. A large contributing factor to the seizure came from the bills resembling authentic US currency enough that they worked in many dollar cashing machines of the time. Gregory avoided being charged with a federal crime, later joking that the bills couldn’t really be considered US currency because everyone knows a black man will never be on a US bill.

On July 21, 1979, Gregory appeared at the Amandla Festival

Amandla Festival

Amandla--Festival of Unity-- was a world music festival held at Harvard Stadium in Boston, Massachusetts, on July 21, 1979. The goals of the concert were to support and celebrate the liberation of Southern Africa as well as the on-going efforts of people in Boston to end racism in their families, schools, workplaces and communities....
where Bob Marley

Bob Marley

Robert "Bob" Nesta Marley Jamaican Order of Merit was a Jamaican singer-songwriter and musician. He was the lead singer, songwriter and guitarist for the ska, rocksteady and reggae bands: The Wailers and Bob Marley & the Wailers ....
, Patti LaBelle

Patti LaBelle

Patricia Louise Holte , best known by her stage name of Patti LaBelle, is an American rhythm and blues and soul music singer-songwriter and actor....
and Eddie Palmieri

Eddie Palmieri

Eddie Palmieri , is a Grammy Award winning Puerto Rican American pianist, bandleader and musician, best known for combining jazz piano and instrumental solos with Latin music rhythms....
, amongst others, had performed. Gregory held a speech before Marley's performance, blaming President Carter

Jimmy Carter

James Earl "Jimmy" Carter, Jr. served as the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States from 1977 to 1981 and was the recipient of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize....
and the political failures, and showed his support for the international Anti-Apartheid

Anti-apartheid

Anti-apartheid may refer to:, outside South Africa** Anti-Apartheid Movement, British organisation* Internal resistance to South African apartheid, within South Africa...
movements. Gregory and Mark Lane did landmark research into the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Martin Luther King, Jr. assassination

Martin Luther King Jr. was a prominent United States African-American Civil Rights Movement leader who was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee on April 4, 1968, at the age of 39....
, which helped move the U.S. House Assassinations Committee to investigate the murder along with that of John F. Kennedy

John F. Kennedy assassination

The assassination of John F. Kennedy, the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States of the United States, took place on Friday, November 22, 1963, in Dallas, Texas, Texas, at 12:30 p.m....
. Lane was author of conspiracy theory books such as Rush to Judgment
Rush to Judgment

Rush to Judgment is the title of a book written by Mark Lane and published not long after the JFK assassination. The book takes issue with the conclusions of the Warren Commission and suggests that there was a Conspiracy to assassinate John F....
. The pair wrote the MLK conspiracy book Code Name Zorro, which postulated that convicted assassin James Earl Ray

James Earl Ray

James Earl Ray was a habitual criminal convicted of the assassination of American civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr., which occurred on April 4, 1968 in Memphis, Tennessee....
did not act alone.

Gregory was an outspoken activist during the US Embassy Hostage Crisis in Iran

Iran hostage crisis

The Iran hostage crisis was a diplomacy crisis between Iran and the United States where 52 U.S. diplomats were held hostage for 444 days from November 4, 1979 to January 20, 1981, after a group of Islamism students took over the American embassy in support of the Iranian revolution....
. In 1980 he traveled to Tehran

Tehran

Tehran is the capital and largest city of Iran, and the administrative center of Tehran Province. Tehran is a sprawling city at the foot of the Alborz mountain range with an immense network of highways unparalleled in Western Asia....
to attempt to negotiate the hostages' release and engaged in a public hunger strike there, weighing less than 100 pounds (45 kg) when he returned to the United States. In 1998 Gregory spoke at the celebration of the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and President Clinton was in attendance. Not long after that, the President told Gregory’s long-time friend and PR. Consultant, Steve Jaffe, “I love Dick Gregory, he is one of the funniest people on the planet.” They spoke of how Gregory had made a comment on Dr. King’s birthday that broke everyone into laughter, when he noted that the President made Speaker Newt Gingrich ride “in the back of the plane,” on an Air Force One trip overseas.

According to a June 2000 JET Magazine

Jet (magazine)

JET is an American weekly marketed toward African American readers, founded in 1951 by John H. Johnson of Johnson Publishing Company in Chicago, Illinois....
interview, Gregory stated that he was diagnosed with lymphoma

Lymphoma

Lymphoma is a type of cancer that originates in lymphocytes of the immune system. They often originate in lymph nodes, presenting as an enlargement of the node ....
in late 1999. Gregory reported that he was treating the cancer with herbs, vitamins and exercise which he believes has kept the cancer in remission.

Since the late 1980s, Gregory has been a figure in the health food

Health food

Health food is a term that has been used in the United States since the 1920s and refers to specific foods claimed to be especially beneficial to health....
industry by advocating for a raw fruit and vegetable diet. Gregory first became a vegetarian in the 1960s, and has lost a considerable amount of weight by going on extreme fasts, some lasting upwards of 50 days. He developed a diet drink called "Bahamian Diet Nutritional Drink" and went on TV shows advocating for his diet and to help the morbidly obese. He is probably best remembered for his attempts, chronicled in the media on daytime talk shows in early 1988, at helping 1,200 pound (540 kg) Long Island man Walter Hudson

Walter Hudson

Walter Hudson of Town of Hempstead, New York, New York was the fourth most obese human in medical history. He also holds the Guinness World Record for the largest waist....
drop nearly 600 pounds (270 kg) in only a few months on a liquid diet.

Gregory married his wife Lillian in the 1960s, and they now have ten children. One of his sons, Dr. Christian Gregory, is a private Chiropractor at Advance Family Chiropractic. As of 2008, he resides in Washington, DC.

At a Civil Rights rally marking the 40th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act

Voting Rights Act

The National Voting Rights Act of 1965 outlawed discriminatory voting practices that had been responsible for the widespread disenfranchisement of African Americans in the United States....
, Gregory criticized the United States, calling it "the most dishonest, ungodly, unspiritual nation that ever existed in the history of the planet. As we talk now, America is 5 percent of the world's population and consumes 96 percent of the world's hard drugs", Gregory said.

Post career and personal life

He is number 81 on Comedy Central

Comedy Central

Comedy Central is an United States cable television and satellite television channel that carries predominantly comedy programming, both original and broadcast syndication....
's list of the 100 Greatest Standups of all time and has his own star on the St. Louis Walk of Fame

St. Louis Walk of Fame

The St. Louis Walk of Fame honors List of famous people from Saint Louis who made contributions to culture of the United States. All inductees were either born in the Greater St....
. There is a grassroots

Grassroots

A grassroots movement is one driven by the constituent of a community. The term implies that the creation of the movement and the group supporting it is natural and spontaneous, highlighting the differences between this and a movement that is orchestrated by traditional power structures....
effort afoot to get him a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame

Hollywood Walk of Fame

The Hollywood Walk of Fame is a sidewalk along Hollywood Boulevard and Vine Street in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA, that serves as an entertainment hall of fame....
, spearheaded by Radio One host Joe Madison.

Gregory is a member of Alpha Phi Alpha

Alpha Phi Alpha

Alpha Phi Alpha is the first intercollegiate Fraternities and sororities established by African Americans. Founded on December 4, 1906, on the campus of Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, Alpha Phi Alpha has initiated over 185,000 men into the organization and has been open to men of all races since 1940....
, the first intercollegiate Greek-letter

Greek alphabet

The Greek alphabet is a set of twenty-four letters that has been used to write the Greek language since the late 9th century BC or early 8th century BCE....
fraternity established for African Americans.

Gregory was a former co-host with radio magnate Cathy Hughes

Cathy Hughes

Cathy Hughes, born Catherine Elizabeth Woods in Omaha, Nebraska on April 22, 1947, is an United States entrepreneur, radio and television personality and business executive....
, and is still a frequent morning guest, on WOL 1450 AM talk radio's "The Power", the flagship station of Hughes' Radio One. Gregory appears as "Mr. Sun" in the television show Wonder Showzen
Wonder Showzen

Wonder Showzen was an United States sketch comedy television series that aired between 2005 and 2006 on MTV2. It was created by John Lee and Vernon Chatman of PFFR....
(the third episode, titled "Ocean", aired in 2005). As Chauncey, a puppet character, imbibes a hallucinogenic substance, Mr. Sun warns, "Don't get hooked on imagination, Chauncey. It can lead to terrible, horrible things." Gregory also provides guest commentary on the Wonder Showzen Season One DVD. Large segments of his commentary were intentionally bleeped out, including the names of several dairy companies, as he makes possibly slanderous remarks concerning the ill effects that consumption of cow milk has on human beings.

Gregory attended and spoke at the funeral of James Brown

James Brown

James Joseph Brown, Jr. was an United States entertainer. He is recognized as one of the most influential figures in 20th century popular music and was renowned for his vocals and feverish dancing....
on December 30, 2006, in Augusta, Georgia.

Albums

In Living Black and White (1961)
East & West (1961)
Dick Gregory Talks Turkey (1962)
The Two Sides of Dick Gregory (1963)
Dick Gregory Running for President (1964)
So You See... We All Have Problems
Dick Gregory On: (1969)
The Light Side: The Dark Side (1969)
Dick Gregory's Frankenstein (1970)
Live at the Village Gate (1970)
At Kent State (1971)
Caught in the Act (1974)
The Best of Dick Gregory (1997)

Books

Nigger: an autobiography, by Dick Gregory with Robert Lipsyte, Pocket Books (Simon and Schuster), 1964. () ISBN 0-671-62611-6
Write me in!, Bantam, 1968.
From the Back of the Bus
What's Happening?
The Shadow that Scares Me
Dick Gregory's Bible Tales, with Commentary, a book of Bible
Bible

The Bible is the central religious text of Judaism and Christianity. The exact Books of the Bible is dependent on the religious traditions of specific denominations....
-based humor. ISBN 0-8128-6194-9
Dick Gregory's Natural Diet for Folks Who Eat: Cookin' With Mother Nature!
(with Shelia P. Moses), Callus on My Soul : A Memoir ISBN 0-7582-0202-4
Up from Nigger
No More Lies; The Myth and the Reality of American History
Dick Gregory's political primer
(with Mark Lane), Murder in Memphis: The FBI and the Assassination of Martin Luther King
(with Mel Watkins), African American Humor: The Best Black Comedy from Slavery to Today (Library of Black America)
Robert Lee Green, Dick Gregory, daring Black leader
African American Humor: The Best Black Comedy from Slavery to Today (editor) ISBN 1-55652-430-7

Filmography

"One Bright Shining Moment" (2006)
The Hot Chick (2002)
Children of the Struggle (1999)
Panther (1995)
Sweet Love, Bitter (1967)

Source:

External links

Unfinished documentary film
* (dietary habits)
at The National Visionary Leadership Project

Dick Gregory

Overview

Early life

Career

Post career and personal life

Albums

Books

Filmography

See also

External links