Dick Gregory: Legendary Comedian And Dedicated Civil Rights Activist

Source: (Jim Spellman / WireImage / Getty Images)

After a long life, legendary comedian and civil rights activist, Dick Gregory died Saturday, August 19, 2017. He was 84.

Gregory (Born, October 12, 1932, St. Louis, Mo.) 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.

Mr. Gregory, then a candidate for president, before speaking in Norfolk, VA, in October 1968. Source: Associated Press

From an early age, Gregory demonstrated a strong sense of social justice. While a student at Sumner High School in St. Louis he led a march protesting segregated schools.

Gregory's autobiography, Nigger, was published in 1963 prior to the assassination of President Kennedy, and became the number one best-selling book in America. Over the decades it has sold over seven million copies. He explained his choice for the title in the forward, where Gregory wrote a note to his mother: "Whenever you hear the word 'Nigger', you'll know they're advertising my book."

In 2001, Gregory publicly announced that he had been diagnosed with a rare form of cancer. He refused traditional medical treatment–chemotherapy–relying instead on of a variety of diet, vitamins, and exercise. The cancer went into remission.

Dick Gregory/Quotes and Jokes

—I never learned hate at home, or shame. I had to go to school for that.
—I never believed in Santa Claus because I knew no white dude would come into my neighborhood after dark.
—Hell hath no fury like a liberal scorned.
—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.
—Political promises are much like marriage vows. They are made at the beginning of the relationship between candidate and voter, but are quickly forgotten.
—I wouldn't mind paying taxes–if I knew they were going to a friendly country.
—I waited at the counter of a white restaurant for eleven years. When they finally integrated, they didn't have what I wanted.
—A Klanner (KKK) is a cat who gets out of bed in the middle of the night and takes his sheet with him.

Mr. Gregory is survived by his wife, Lillian, and 10 children.

Dick Gregory on The Merv Griffin Show–9/14/1965 [Reelin' In The Years Archives] from the Merv GriffinShow YouTube channel.