Dick Gregory

Dick Gregory (b. Richard Claxton Gregory October 12, 1932, St. Louis, Mo.), is an African American comedian and civil rights activist whose social satire changed the way white Americans perceived African American comedians since he first performed in public.

Gregory began performing comedy in the mid-1950s while serving in the army. In the hopes of performing comedy professionally, he moved to Chicago, where he became part of a new generation of black comedians that included Nipsey Russell, Bill Cosby, and Godfrey Cambridge. These comedians broke with the minstrel tradition, which presented stereotypical black characters. Gregory, whose style was detached, ironic, and satirical, came to be called the “Black Mort Sahl” after the popular white social satirist. Gregory drew on current events, especially the racial issues, for much of his material: ”Segregation is not all bad. Have you ever heard of a collision where the people in the back of the bus got hurt?“ Dick Gregory entered the national comedy scene in 1961 when Chicago’s Playboy Club (as a direct request from publisher Hugh Hefner) booked him as a replacement for white comedian, “Professor” Irwin Corey.

From an early age, Gregory demonstrated a strong sense of social justice. Gregory took part in the Civil Rights Movement and used his celebrity status to draw attention to such issues as segregation and disfranchisement. Gregory’s autobiography, Nigger, was published in 1963 and became the number one best-selling book in America. Over the decades it has sold in excess of seven million copies. His choice for the title was explained in the forward, where Dick Gregory wrote a note to his mother. “Whenever you hear the word ‘Nigger’,” he said, “you’ll know they're advertising my book.”

In 1973, the year he released his comedy album Caught in the Act, Gregory moved with his family to Plymouth, Massachusetts, where he developed an interest in vegetarianism and became a nutritional consultant, and in 1996 returned to the stage in his critically acclaimed one-man show, Dick Gregory Live!

- Excerpted from www.dickgregory.com/about_dick_gregory.html