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Dick Gregory
Dick Gregory in 1964
Dick Gregory in 1964
Born October 12, 1932 (1932-10-12) (age 75)
St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.
Medium Stand-up, film, books
Nationality American
Years active 1956 - Present
Genres Satire/Political satire, Observational comedy
Subject(s) American civil rights, American politics, American culture, African-American culture, racism, race relations, vegetarianism, healthy diet
Influences Mort Sahl
Influenced Lenny Bruce, George Carlin, Nichols and May, Richard Pryor, Chris Rock
Notable works and roles In Living Black and White
Nigger: An Autobiography
Write Me In!
Website www.dickgregory.com

Richard "Dick" Claxton Gregory (born October 12, 1932) is an American comedian, social activist, writer and entrepreneur. Events 539 BC - The army of Cyrus the Great of Persia takes Babylon. Year 1932 ( MCMXXXII) was a Leap year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the Stand-up comedy is a style of comedy where the performer speaks directly to the audience with the absence of the theatrical " Fourth wall " A Book is a set or collection of written printed illustrated or blank sheets made of Paper, Parchment, or other material usually fastened together Nationality is a relationship between a Person and their State of Origin, Culture, association Affiliation and/or Loyalty The United States of America —commonly referred to as the Year 1956 ( MCMLVI) was a Leap year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Comedy may be divided into multiple Genres based on the source of humour the method of delivery and the context in which it is delivered Satire is often strictly defined as a literary genre or form; although in practice it is also found in the graphic and Performing arts In satire human Political satire is a significant part of Satire that specializes in gaining entertainment from politicsusing political cartoons politicians and public affairs Observational comedy is a style of Humor based on making remarks about various facets of Everyday life. The American Civil Rights Movement (1955–1968 refers to the reform movements in the United States aimed at abolishing racial discrimination against African Politics of the United States takes place in the framework of a presidential, Federal republic where the President of the United States (the Head of The development of the culture of the United States of America — music, cinema, dance, architecture, literature, poetry African American culture in the United States refers to the cultural contributions of African ethnic groups to the culture of the United States either as part of or distinct from List of racism-related topics|Racism by country Racism, by its simplest definition is the belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that Race relations is the area of Sociology that studies the Social, Political, and Economic relations between races at all different Vegetarianism is the practice of a diet that excludes Meat (including game and slaughter by-products Fish (including Shellfish and other sea A healthy diet is one that is arrived at with the intent of improving or maintaining optimal Health. Morton Lyon Sahl (born May 11, 1927) is a Canadian-born American Comedian and Actor. Lenny Bruce (October 13 1925 &ndash August 3 1966 born Leonard Alfred Schneider, was an American Stand-up comedian, Writer, social George Denis Patrick Carlin (May 12 1937 – June 22 2008 was an American stand-up comedian, often considered one of the best of all time Mike Nichols (born November 6 1931) is an American television stage and Film director, writer and producer Elaine May (born April 21 1932, Philadelphia) is a two-time Academy Award nominated Director, Screenwriter and Richard Franklin Lennox Thomas Pryor III ( December 1, 1940 &ndash December 10, 2005) was an American Comedian, Actor Christopher Julius Rock III (born February 7, 1965) is an American Comedian, Actor, Screenwriter, Television Nigger (also known as Nigger An Autobiography by Dick Gregory) is the autobiography of comedian and social activist Dick Gregory. Events 539 BC - The army of Cyrus the Great of Persia takes Babylon. Year 1932 ( MCMXXXII) was a Leap year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the A comedian or comic is a person who seeks to entertain an audience primarily by making them laugh Activism, in a general sense can be described as intentional action to bring about social or political change 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 An entrepreneur is a person who has possession over a company enterprise, or Venture, and assumes significant accountability for the inherent risks and the outcome

Born in St. Louis, Missouri, United States, Dick Gregory is an influential African American comic who has used his performance skills to convey to both white and black audiences his political message on civil rights. Missouri ( or) is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee The United States of America —commonly referred to as the African Americans or Black Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have origins in any of the black populations of Africa 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.

Contents

Overview

Early life

As a poor student who excelled at running, Gregory was aided by teachers at Sumner High School such as Warren St. Sumner High School, also known as Charles E Sumner High School, is a four-year Public high school in St James and earned a track scholarship to Southern Illinois University Carbondale. Southern Illinois University Carbondale (SIUC but usually just referred to as SIU) is located in Carbondale, Illinois. [1] 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 shows at the urging of his commanding officer, who had taken notice of his penchant for joking. The United States Army is a military organization whose primary mission is to "provide necessary forces and capabilities. A talent show is a live performance spectacle (sometimes on television where contestants perform Acting, Singing, Dancing, Acrobatics,

Career

After completing military service, he performed as a comedian in small, primarily black nightclubs while working for the United States Postal Service during the daytime. For the military meaning see Armed forces. For the Soviet sports society see Armed Forces (sports society Armed Forces A nightclub (or "night club" or "club" is a drinking, dancing, and entertainment venue which does its primary business after dark In 1961, while working at the Black-owned Roberts Show Bar in Chicago, he was hired by Hugh Hefner to work at the Chicago Playboy Club after Hefner heard him wow a largely-white audience with the following routine:

Good evening ladies and gentlemen. Hugh Marston Hefner (born April 9 1926 is an American Magazine Publisher, and best known as the editor-in-chief of Playboy magazine Chicago (ʃɪˈkɑːgoʊ is the largest City by population in the state of Illinois and the American Midwest of the United States. Playboy is an American Men's magazine, founded in Chicago Illinois, by Hugh Hefner and his associates which has grown into Playboy 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!" [1]

Active in the civil rights movement, he came to Selma, Alabama 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, You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train [Beacon Press, 1994; rev. See also Protests of 1968 Historically the civil rights movement was a concentrated period of time around the world of approximately twenty years (1960-1980 in Selma is a city in and the County seat of Dallas County, Alabama, United States, located on the banks of the Alabama River. Events 3761 BC - The epoch (origin of the modern Hebrew calendar ( Proleptic Julian calendar) Year 1963 ( MCMLXIII) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Howard Zinn (born August 24 1922 is an American Historian, political scientist, social critic, activist and Playwright, best known ed. 2002], p. 58).

Dick Gregory's first TV appearance was on the Jack Paar late night show. Jack Harold Paar ( May 1, 1918 &ndash January 27, 2004) was an American Radio and Television talk show host He soon began appearing nationally and on television and his 1964 autobiography, Nigger, sold seven million copies. An autobiography, from the Greek αὐτός autos "self" βίος bios "life" and γράφειν graphein "to write" Nigger (also known as Nigger An Autobiography by Dick Gregory) is the autobiography of comedian and social activist Dick Gregory. At the same time, he became more involved in struggles for civil rights, activism against the American War in Vietnam, economic reform, anti-drug issues, conspiracy theories, and others. The Vietnam War, also known as the Second Indochina War, or the Vietnam Conflict, occurred in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia A conspiracy theory attributes the ultimate cause of an event or chain of events (usually Political, Social or Historical events or the concealment As a part of his activism, he went on several hunger strikes. A hunger strike is a method of Non-violent resistance or pressure in which participants fast as an act of political Protest, or to provoke feelings of Gregory began his political career by running against Richard J. Daley for the mayoralty of Chicago in 1967. Richard Joseph Daley ( May 15, 1902 – December 20, 1976) served for 21 years as the undisputed Democratic boss of Chicago 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 in 1968 as a write-in candidate of the Freedom and Peace Party, which had broken off from the Peace and Freedom Party. 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 United States by 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 The Peace and Freedom Party ( PFP) is a ballot-listed minor Political party in California. He won 47,097 votes (including one from Hunter S. Thompson) with fellow activist Mark Lane as his running mate, garnering more than the party he had left. Hunter Stockton Thompson ( July 18, 1937 &ndash February 20, 2005) was an American Journalist and Author, most [2] The Freedom and Peace Party also ran other candidates, including Beulah Sanders for New York State Senate and Flora Brown for New York State Assembly. 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 The New York State Assembly is the Lower house of the New York Legislature, the state legislature of the U [3] His efforts landed him on the 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 Richard

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

Dick Gregory Dollar Bill

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 where Bob Marley, Patti LaBelle and Eddie Palmieri, amongst others, had performed. Events 356 BC - Herostratus sets fire to the Temple of Artemis in Ephesus, one of the Seven Wonders of the World Year 1979 ( MCMLXXIX) was a Common year starting on Monday (link displays the 1979 Gregorian calendar) Amandla --Festival of Unity-- was a World music Festival held at Harvard Stadium in Boston Massachusetts, on July 21, 1979 Robert "Bob" Nesta Marley OM (February 6 1945 – May 11 1981 was a Jamaican Musician, Singer-songwriter and Rastafarian Patricia Louise Holte (born May 24 1944) best known as her stage name Patti Labelle, is an American R&B and soul Eddie Palmieri (born December 15, 1936) is a Grammy Award award winning Puerto Rican American Pianist, Bandleader and Gregory held a speech before Marley's performance, blaming President Carter and the political failures, and showed his support for the international Anti-Apartheid movements. James Earl "Jimmy" Carter Jr (born October 1 1924 was the thirty-ninth President of the United States, serving from 1977 to 1981 and the recipient of the 2002 Anti-Apartheid Movement, originally known as the Boycott Movement, was a British organization that was at the center of the international movement opposing South Africa's Gregory and Mark Lane did landmark research into the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., which helped move the U. Martin Luther King Jr was assassinated in Memphis Tennessee on April 4, 1968, at the age of 39 S. House Assassinations Committee to investigate the murder along with that of John F. Kennedy. The assassination of John F Kennedy, the thirty-fifth President of the United States, took place on Friday November 22 1963 in Dallas Texas Lane was author of conspiracy theory books such as 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 pair wrote the MLK conspiracy book Code Name Zorro, which postulated that convicted assassin James Earl Ray did not act alone.

Gregory was an outspoken activist during the US Embassy Hostage Crisis in Iran. The Iran hostage crisis ( Persian: تصرف سفارت آمریکا was a diplomatic crisis between Iran and the United States where 52 In 1980 he traveled to Tehran 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. Tehran (or Teheran) ( Persian: تهران Tehrān) is the capital and largest City of Iran, and the administrative center of

In recent years, Gregory has been a figure in the health food industry, becoming better known as a nutrition guru during the 1980s, advocating for a raw fruit and vegetable diet. The term Health food has been used in the United States since the 1920s to refer to specific foods claimed to be especially beneficial to Health. 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. Vegetarianism is the practice of a diet that excludes Meat (including game and slaughter by-products Fish (including Shellfish and other sea 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 drop nearly 600 pounds (270 kg) in only a few months on a liquid diet. Walter Hudson (c 1944 in Brooklyn, NY &ndash 1991 of Hempstead, New York was the fourth most Obese human in medical history Mr. Hudson shortly gained the weight back and later died from complications from his extreme obesity. Nonetheless, Gregory claims his diet has kept him in good health and continues to advocate for a natural diet lifestyle.

In early June 2005, during the late stages of the 2005 trial of Michael Jackson, he was invited by Jackson's father, Joseph Jackson, to advise Jackson on his health. People v Jackson ( The People of the State of California v Michael Joseph Jackson) was a 2005 child molestation trial involving pop icon Michael Jackson. Joseph Walter Jackson (aka Joe Jackson born July 26, 1929) is a Manager, former Boxer, former Musician best known as the father On June 4, Gregory brought a blood-circulating machine to Jackson's house, but Jackson refused to use it. Events 781 BC - The first historic Solar eclipse is recorded in China. On February 26, 2006, in Atlanta, Georgia, while making a speech at Soul Vegetarian, he fainted; paramedics arrived soon afterwards. Events 747 BC - Epoch (origin of Ptolemy 's Nabonassar Era 364 - Valentinian I is proclaimed Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar.

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. Washington DC ( formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, the District, or simply D

At a Civil Rights rally marking the 40th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act, Gregory criticized the United States, calling it "the most dishonest, ungodly, unspiritual nation that ever existed in the history of the planet. Background See also [[Disfranchisement after the Civil War]] The 13th Amendment, ratified in 1865 after the Civil War, abolished and prohibited 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. [4]

Post career and personal life

He is number 81 on Comedy Central's list of the 100 Greatest Standups of all time and has his own star on the St. Louis Walk of Fame. Comedy Central is an American Cable television and Satellite television channel that carries predominantly Comedy programming The St Louis Walk of Fame honors well-known people from St Louis Missouri who made contributions to Culture of the United States. There is a grassroots effort afoot to get him a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, spearheaded by Radio One host Joe Madison. For other meanings see Grass roots (disambiguation. A grassroots movement (often referenced in the context of a Political movement The Hollywood Walk of Fame is a Sidewalk along Hollywood Boulevard and Vine Street in Hollywood Los Angeles California, USA, that

Gregory is a member of Alpha Phi Alpha, the first intercollegiate Greek-letter fraternity established for African Americans. Alpha Phi Alpha ( ΑΦΑ) is the first intercollegiate fraternity established by African Americans Founded on December 4 1906 on the campus of The Greek alphabet (Ελληνικό αλφάβητο is a set of twenty-four letters that has been used to write the Greek language since the late 9th or early Fraternities and sororities (from the Latin words la frater and la soror, meaning "brother" and "sister" respectively are fraternal

Gregory was a former co-host with radio magnate Cathy Hughes, and is still a frequent morning guest, on WOL 1450 AM talk radio's "The Power", the flagship station of Hughes' Radio One. Cathy Hughes, born Catherine Elizabeth Woods in Omaha Nebraska on April 22, 1947, is an African-American entrepreneur Radio Gregory appears as "Mr. Sun" in the television show Wonder Showzen (the third episode, titled "Ocean", aired in 2005). As Chauncey, a puppet character, imbibes a hallucinogenic substance, Mr. The general group of pharmacological agents commonly known as hallucinogens can be divided into three broad categories Psychedelics, Dissociatives 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. Milk is an opaque white liquid produced by the Mammary glands of female Mammals (including Monotremes.

Gregory attended and spoke at the funeral of James Brown on December 30, 2006, in Augusta, Georgia. James Joseph Brown Jr (May 3 1933 – December 25 2006 commonly referred to as "The Godfather of Soul" the "King of Funk" and "The Augusta Georgia is a city in Richmond County, Georgia, United States.

Albums

Books

Filmography

Source: IMDb

References

  1. ^ Dick Gregory , AEI Speakers Bureau. Accessed December 11, 2007. Events 359 - Honoratus, the first known Prefect of the City of Constantinople, takes office Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. " A track star at Sumner High School, Gregory earned an athletic scholarship in 1951 to Southern Illinois University at Carbondale and became the first member of his family to attend college. "

See also

External links

The American Civil Rights Movement (1955–1968 refers to the reform movements in the United States aimed at abolishing racial discrimination against African This is a timeline of the African-American Civil Rights Movement.
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