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Nigger: An Autobiography
Dick Gregory, with Robert Lipsyte, An Autobiography by Dick Gregory, paperback
209 pages, Paperback
First published June 28, 1964
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17060 people want to read
About the author
Dick Gregory
40 books348 followersRichard "Dick" Gregory was an American civil rights activist, social critic, writer, entrepreneur, comedian, motivational speaker, author and actor. He became the first black comedian to successfully cross over to white audiences.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 435 reviews
October 14, 2018
I read this book years ago. It was given to me by a young black man who was working to change the attitudes of white people. However, I was a young white woman and he knocked on my apartment door and asked to come in and talk about Civil Rights. It was 1964. I was a senior in high school. I asked him to come in. He did. We sat on the couch in the living room and he told me about the Civil Rights movement. I listened for at least a half an hour or more. The poor guy shook like an earthquake during this 1/2 hour. I sat and just listened. I have never learned so much in 1/2 hour in my life. I will always remember that event. He does not know that he changed my life and my attitudes toward everything with his courage. He could have been accused of almost anything by accepting my invitation into my apartment. He was a wonderful teacher. He may have been 20 years old or so. I wish like hell I had asked him his name because I think that I would love to know who he was. To me, he was the Civil Rights movement. When we finished talking, he gave me the book "Nigger" so that I could read it. I did. I still have it. Of course, when my mother came home, she was shocked that I let him in. She said, "You could have been raped!", but I wasn't and that made a huge difference in the way I thought about how people treat each other. Also, I would like to meet Dick Gregory. He was a good comedian in his day. Read the book, it is a time capsule. Think of the courage it took to knock on a door and talk to a white girl. Amen.
August 4, 2020
How Long, Lord? How Long?
America is evil. It is more evil now than it was over a half century ago when Dick Gregory wrote Nigger, his first autobiography. Back then the racists were mostly Southern, Democratic, ignorant and at least a little ashamed. Now they are Central, Republican, just as ignorant, but firmly in charge, and proud of it.
Gregory's commitment to the 1960's Civil Rights struggle was supported by an ideal that he could use against the bigots of the day: "I told them that they weren’t just dealing with Dick Gregory when they threatened to take all the Negroes off relief, they were dealing with America. They weren’t big enough to threaten the whole country." He felt confident that this ideal incorporated justice in itself so that one could say, “Thank the United States Supreme Court,” instead of “Thank God.” And he was confident of practical help, "...the police [in Birmingham, Alabama] were on their best behavior that day because there were FBI agents in town with movie cameras."
No longer. The racists are in charge now. Whatever ideal of America as a representative of progressive and inclusionary politics there may have been before Trump now can be seen as a sham. The establishment has embraced the values of George Wallace, a figure few seem to remember but whose legacy has endured and spread throughout the country like an infectious bacterium. The Supreme Court is increasingly unlikely to provide anything but ideological claptrap. And the Justice Department, including the FBI, is run by a man who campaigned for a strict segregationist candidate for Alabama governor. Little chance for civil rights protection there.
If it were only the racist Republican political establishment that were the problem, there might be hope of the sort Gregory drew from his ideal. But the problem is not Trump and Sessions and their pals. The problem is America, its people. Roughly half of them endorse the racism of their leaders, substantially more than 50 years ago. America fears the Black Man, the Brown Man, the Yellow Man, the Gay Man, and even the Red Man as never before simply because each of these has demonstrated his equality in ability, creativeness, and drive. Gregory implies this when he,
With that segregated toilet gone, even in the White House, a lot more white folk feel like there aren't a lot of people they can look down on.
I was born and lived half my life in America. And I know what James Baldwin said is true,
So I feel shame and despair for what has happened to America. Shame because I share whatever genetic defect afflicts the country and should have done more to overcome it; despair because it wouldn't have made the least bit of difference.
America is evil. It is more evil now than it was over a half century ago when Dick Gregory wrote Nigger, his first autobiography. Back then the racists were mostly Southern, Democratic, ignorant and at least a little ashamed. Now they are Central, Republican, just as ignorant, but firmly in charge, and proud of it.
Gregory's commitment to the 1960's Civil Rights struggle was supported by an ideal that he could use against the bigots of the day: "I told them that they weren’t just dealing with Dick Gregory when they threatened to take all the Negroes off relief, they were dealing with America. They weren’t big enough to threaten the whole country." He felt confident that this ideal incorporated justice in itself so that one could say, “Thank the United States Supreme Court,” instead of “Thank God.” And he was confident of practical help, "...the police [in Birmingham, Alabama] were on their best behavior that day because there were FBI agents in town with movie cameras."
No longer. The racists are in charge now. Whatever ideal of America as a representative of progressive and inclusionary politics there may have been before Trump now can be seen as a sham. The establishment has embraced the values of George Wallace, a figure few seem to remember but whose legacy has endured and spread throughout the country like an infectious bacterium. The Supreme Court is increasingly unlikely to provide anything but ideological claptrap. And the Justice Department, including the FBI, is run by a man who campaigned for a strict segregationist candidate for Alabama governor. Little chance for civil rights protection there.
If it were only the racist Republican political establishment that were the problem, there might be hope of the sort Gregory drew from his ideal. But the problem is not Trump and Sessions and their pals. The problem is America, its people. Roughly half of them endorse the racism of their leaders, substantially more than 50 years ago. America fears the Black Man, the Brown Man, the Yellow Man, the Gay Man, and even the Red Man as never before simply because each of these has demonstrated his equality in ability, creativeness, and drive. Gregory implies this when he,
"... felt the poisonous hate in an American city, a nice-looking little town that had a Confederate flag flying just as high as the American flag on the US Post Office. And I saw the southern white man who has nothing between him and the lowest Negro except a segregated toilet."
With that segregated toilet gone, even in the White House, a lot more white folk feel like there aren't a lot of people they can look down on.
I was born and lived half my life in America. And I know what James Baldwin said is true,
"I think that it is a spiritual disaster to pretend that one doesn’t love one’s country. You may disapprove of it, you may be forced to leave it, you may live your whole life as a battle, yet I don’t think you can escape it … If you try to pretend you don’t see the immediate reality that formed you I think you’ll go blind.”
So I feel shame and despair for what has happened to America. Shame because I share whatever genetic defect afflicts the country and should have done more to overcome it; despair because it wouldn't have made the least bit of difference.
August 8, 2018
When I first wrote this review it was quite challenging. I had it drafted for a while and didn’t think it was good enough. I still don’t. So to sum it up, I’ll go ahead and tell you Nigger makes my list of best books ever.
Migrations of the Heart by Marita Golden had been the book with the most memorable dedication I’d read. That was until I opened this one:
I didn’t make it much further than that before realizing this would be the most emotionally taxing book I’ve read. I ultimately decided to read it in one sitting because it was too distressing to read daily. I started to wonder how so many misfortunes could befall one person.
Kids made fun of Gregory because he had an absentee father, and his family was on welfare. He discovers his knack for comedy when he begins using humor as a coping mechanism. But dealing with kids at school was only one of many worries. When his father was present, he was abusive and not providing financial support. Gregory was left to try and support the family with whatever money he could make from whatever jobs he could find.
A boy having to provide for his family, as a man would, came with its own set of challenges. Gregory found himself in countless compromising situations. He never did tell his mother about the burdens he carried because, in addition to helping her support the family, he felt he had to protect her.
Things started to turn around once he got to high school. He became a runner and even earned an athletic scholarship. He became Outstanding Athlete of the Year at Southern Illinois University. But he left college before graduating after determining that a degree was useless for a black man.
After doing a number of successful comedy shows, he was sure he could run a profitable comedy club of his own. He managed to borrow money from people that believed the same; however, it was only a matter of time before his luck turned again. A brutal Chicago winter had something else in store for Gregory's new business.
As we know, things did eventually turn around. The second half of the book shifts to his involvement in the Civil Rights Movement. He heads South after deciding that sending a check wasn't enough. As good as this book was, it felt incomplete. Maybe adding more would’ve taken something away. But he wrote several books after this one and I suspect they pick up where this one left off.
In addition to having one of the most memorable dedications I've read, this book had one of the most memorable quotes:
My dad gave me his $1.95 pocket copy of Nigger. He'd had it since reading it when he was a young man. I was able to get the book signed by Dick Gregory in February 2017. I gave it back to my father and I think that's the first time I can describe a grown man as giddy :)
Migrations of the Heart by Marita Golden had been the book with the most memorable dedication I’d read. That was until I opened this one:
Dear Momma - Wherever you are, if ever you hear the word “nigger” again, remember they are advertising my book.
I didn’t make it much further than that before realizing this would be the most emotionally taxing book I’ve read. I ultimately decided to read it in one sitting because it was too distressing to read daily. I started to wonder how so many misfortunes could befall one person.
Kids made fun of Gregory because he had an absentee father, and his family was on welfare. He discovers his knack for comedy when he begins using humor as a coping mechanism. But dealing with kids at school was only one of many worries. When his father was present, he was abusive and not providing financial support. Gregory was left to try and support the family with whatever money he could make from whatever jobs he could find.
A boy having to provide for his family, as a man would, came with its own set of challenges. Gregory found himself in countless compromising situations. He never did tell his mother about the burdens he carried because, in addition to helping her support the family, he felt he had to protect her.
Things started to turn around once he got to high school. He became a runner and even earned an athletic scholarship. He became Outstanding Athlete of the Year at Southern Illinois University. But he left college before graduating after determining that a degree was useless for a black man.
After doing a number of successful comedy shows, he was sure he could run a profitable comedy club of his own. He managed to borrow money from people that believed the same; however, it was only a matter of time before his luck turned again. A brutal Chicago winter had something else in store for Gregory's new business.
As we know, things did eventually turn around. The second half of the book shifts to his involvement in the Civil Rights Movement. He heads South after deciding that sending a check wasn't enough. As good as this book was, it felt incomplete. Maybe adding more would’ve taken something away. But he wrote several books after this one and I suspect they pick up where this one left off.
In addition to having one of the most memorable dedications I've read, this book had one of the most memorable quotes:
“I never learned hate at home, or shame. I had to go to school for that.”
My dad gave me his $1.95 pocket copy of Nigger. He'd had it since reading it when he was a young man. I was able to get the book signed by Dick Gregory in February 2017. I gave it back to my father and I think that's the first time I can describe a grown man as giddy :)
February 29, 2020
Jar Pick #4 but 3rd pick finished(I'm a rebel)
Nigger is not only a memoir by Comedy & Civil Rights Legend Dick Gregory, its also a love letter to his momma. His mother had to work hard every single day to raise her 6 kids. She cleaned white people's houses and had to accept government relief but it still wasn't enough. Most days Dick and siblings had little to nothing to eat, they had no electricity or running water. Dick joined the track team just so he could take a shower everyday. His mother worked her ass off but it was never enough. Most people would have been defeated by those circumstances but not Dick's momma. She never lost her joy or optimism. She passed that same optimism down to her son.
Dick Gregory lived a thousand lives before he every became famous. Most people would have given up after their 3 or 4 time failing but Dick refused to. He had promised his mother that he would "Be Somebody". Unfortunately his momma never got to see him make it big but Dick carried her with him in everything he did.
Nigger is also the story of America. No matter how rich and famous Dick Gregory became in America he was still a NIGGER.
Nigger is not only a memoir by Comedy & Civil Rights Legend Dick Gregory, its also a love letter to his momma. His mother had to work hard every single day to raise her 6 kids. She cleaned white people's houses and had to accept government relief but it still wasn't enough. Most days Dick and siblings had little to nothing to eat, they had no electricity or running water. Dick joined the track team just so he could take a shower everyday. His mother worked her ass off but it was never enough. Most people would have been defeated by those circumstances but not Dick's momma. She never lost her joy or optimism. She passed that same optimism down to her son.
Dick Gregory lived a thousand lives before he every became famous. Most people would have given up after their 3 or 4 time failing but Dick refused to. He had promised his mother that he would "Be Somebody". Unfortunately his momma never got to see him make it big but Dick carried her with him in everything he did.
Nigger is also the story of America. No matter how rich and famous Dick Gregory became in America he was still a NIGGER.
August 20, 2017
“Heaven just got funnier, RIP” #DickGregory DL Hughley
Gregory, dead at 84, 8/19/17, was a ground-breaking comedian and a civil rights activist.
"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. . ."
Nigger, his memoir, is painfully hilarious. I read it in a high school sociology class with other books such as Black Like Me and Malcolm X's Autobiography. He dedicated the book to his mother:
"Dear Momma--Wherever you are, if you ever hear the word ‘nigger’ again, remember, they are advertising my book."
"In America, with all of its evils and faults, you can still reach through the forest and see the sun, but we don't know yet whether that sun is rising or setting for our country."
CNN Obit:
http://www.cnn.com/2017/08/19/enterta...
Some stand-up Dick Gregory from 1974:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3jtu...
Gregory, dead at 84, 8/19/17, was a ground-breaking comedian and a civil rights activist.
"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. . ."
Nigger, his memoir, is painfully hilarious. I read it in a high school sociology class with other books such as Black Like Me and Malcolm X's Autobiography. He dedicated the book to his mother:
"Dear Momma--Wherever you are, if you ever hear the word ‘nigger’ again, remember, they are advertising my book."
"In America, with all of its evils and faults, you can still reach through the forest and see the sun, but we don't know yet whether that sun is rising or setting for our country."
CNN Obit:
http://www.cnn.com/2017/08/19/enterta...
Some stand-up Dick Gregory from 1974:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3jtu...
January 4, 2009
I knew very little about Dick Gregory before I read this book. I knew his name, that he was a comedian, and not much else. His autobiography, aptly named I add, provides incredible insight into the Civil Rights movement. I read this book before the 2004 elections and I felt so proud. Because Gregory and other black women and men were wiling to put their life on the line, I can vote. While at times Gregory's sexism is irritating, to say the least, this book is worth your time. Written in 1964 at the height of the struggle, Nigger provides rare insight. What a great book to read as President-elect Obama prepares to take office.
September 26, 2012
I had only read excerpts before and so it was good to read the whole autobiography. It is powerful stuff. With snippets from his life, Gregory paints a picture to show us the cruel ways poverty and racism affect those in their grip--physically of course, but also emotionally, and spiritually.
His honesty is staggering--in the personal stories of his own efforts to survive with his dignity intact--and in portraying his own weaknesses and failings, by-products of the cancer of hatred and racism he grew up with.
His amazing fortitude and work ethic helped him rise to fame and economic success, overturning the stereotype of the lazy "Negro." The moment he had money and a platform from which to do so, he waded right into the thick of the civil rights movement to try to make a difference for the future.
And he did make a difference--during his life time, and now as people continue to read his words. Reading his autobiography has taught me more about life, about history, and about the human condition, subjects every author needs to major in. Thank you, Mr. Gregory.
His honesty is staggering--in the personal stories of his own efforts to survive with his dignity intact--and in portraying his own weaknesses and failings, by-products of the cancer of hatred and racism he grew up with.
His amazing fortitude and work ethic helped him rise to fame and economic success, overturning the stereotype of the lazy "Negro." The moment he had money and a platform from which to do so, he waded right into the thick of the civil rights movement to try to make a difference for the future.
And he did make a difference--during his life time, and now as people continue to read his words. Reading his autobiography has taught me more about life, about history, and about the human condition, subjects every author needs to major in. Thank you, Mr. Gregory.
February 22, 2019
This was a memoir, or autobiography, in the truest sense, and it was pretty good. Following Gregory’s life from early childhood in St. Louis, up until the book’s publication, when he was enjoying significant success and had a true passion for civil rights, this was told in the breathlessly sincere confessional style of the time that followed me into my dream. Gregory grew up POOR and Black. Like too poor to have power to cook the annual charity Christmas turkey poor. Like his mother was slowly dying of untreated diabetes and high blood pressure while working as a maid poor. Like being too cold at home to study poor. Like the beast that is poverty lit a fire under him they chased him for his entire life poor. In a world that hated him because he was Black. This book was visceral. Gregory literally ran himself out of his childhood and into university, and worked harder than I can imagine to make it as a comedian, only to find himself chased by the demons of racism and working tirelessly for civil rights in the exceedingly dangerous battleground of Mississippi. This book was excellent. For me the standouts were how, even though he didn’t speak about childhood trauma, it was clearly the thing that pushed him so tirelessly to succeed at the cost of so much, like a real connection with his spouse and children, and how, no matter how miserly you would think his childhood would make him, how generous he was with his money and time. The book, and Gregory himself, lacked insight about how emotionally shut down he was with his wife and kids, and how much he took them for granted, which was abundantly clear to the reader. Also, it seemed very clear to me that he had some kind of irritable bowel disease from early childhood (hello 50 day liquid fasts), that was undiagnosed and untreated - and I wonder if that would be different now. So glad I finally read this.
April 13, 2020
One of TheGreatestEver💕......Dear Mama where U r, if Ever U hear the word Nigger again remember They r advertising MyBook Dick Gregory 🔥🔥
December 12, 2011
I have taught this book several times to classes of ninth graders, and the depth with which it speaks to young, poor, Black students is startling. From high school track star to successful local comedian to civil rights activist to conflicted family man, the many lifetimes this man has led, along with the insights they provide for the human condition, allow more discussion points than one class can be expected to cover. This book is a great companion to studies of the civil rights movements of the 1960s, in that Gregory mentions some of the lesser known figures of the era and recounts the personal experiences of protesting and being arrested for it. Some recordings of his stand-up comedy routines would help provide students anticipation for reading this autobiography.
August 3, 2020
"They asked me to buy a lifetime membership in the NAACP, but I told them I'd pay a week at a time. Hell of a thing to buy a lifetime membership, wake up one morning and find the country's been integrated."
Dick Gregory (1932-2017) writes about growing up poor in St. Louis, Missouri, going to segregated movie theaters, discovering his sense of humor, running a 4:28 mile, how comedy and running helped him to get by, why it's not a good idea to open a comedy club in Chicago in January, how to sell a talent that isn't yet yours to command, how he dealt with people who called him the n-word during his stand-up, how he avoided the audience's pity and got them to laugh instead, how he got traditionally-segregated prisoners at a performance to switch their seats ("do it with humor", a prison chaplain implored him, and he did), how as a black kid growing up in Missouri the falseness of the story white America told itself was always self-evident and how that too became fuel for comedy, how success can be like "waking up one morning with a smile because you're standing on the other side of that plate-glass window and you say: damn, this wasn't hard, this wasn't hard at all", but also how material and artistic success and not rocking the boat weren't enough; his participation in the Civil Rights movement, marching in Greenwood, getting beaten and jailed in Birmingham, receiving death threats, "the poisonous hate in an American city, a nice-looking little town that had a Confederate flag flying just as high as an American flag on the US Post Office", the feeling of walking through those streets and just waiting for the bullet from one of the rooftops, and how like it or not we're all involved.
He doesn't write about his role in bringing the Zapruder film into the public eye, but that's a story for another day.
Hunter S. Thompson voted for Dick Gregory for president in 1968, and I think I understand why. He seems to have been a fine writer and a courageous human being. Not coincidentally, he also had a great sense of humor, which he used to disarm, persuade, challenge, provoke thought, and maybe- although who can say- change people.
June 4, 2012
"Dear Momma- Wherever you are, if you ever hear the word "nigger" again, remember, they are advertising my book."
Before I lend this book to my boss and risk its disappearance, I thought I'd transcribe a few of my favorite parts. On meeting his wife:
"She was so nervous while she was writing it down, she kept tearing the paper with her pencil point. I rolled up the paper and put it in my pocket. Lillian Smith stayed through the second show and the Sunday evening show and she kept staring at me like no one in Willard, Ohio, would ever believe she had actually talked to this great man. When I left that night with the girl I was dating at the time, I went over and said good night to Lillian. I thought it might give her a thrill to call her, just because she was so sure I wouldn't.
That night, back at Ozelle and William's I lay in bed and thought about that face staring up at me, that soft, little-girl face so out of place in a night club. It suddenly dawned on me that my mother would have looked that way if she had ever been to a night club. I had a dream that night about Momma, and I was Richard again, and she came off the streetcar and ran into the house and said: "Richard, oh, Richard, I spoke to the star of the show, Harry Belafonte, I talked to Harry Belafonte" and I said: "No, Momma," and she said: "Yes, I did, I really did, and he's going to call me on the phone." When I woke up that Monday morning and I could almost see her expression over the phone. I just talked to her, and told her I'd call her back soon and we'd have lunch."
(!!!)
On meeting a convict after a show he plays in a prison:
"He was an artist, and he asked me if I'd like to see his work. I did. When I saw it I got weak in the knees. He had drawings of women, of what he thought women looked like. But every one had a man's face, a man's eyes, a man's nose, a man's jaw, a man's lips. They had long hair and they had breasts and they were wearing lipstick and dresses. But every one was really a man.
It was so weird that a man should think he was drawing a woman and he was really drawing a man. But that convict had only seen men for fifty years; those male faces were all he knew. And I talked to Lil about it and the more we talked and the more I thought about it, the more frightened I got. If you had told that old man that his drawings were all wrong he would have called you a liar and been ready to fight. And then Lil and I carried it one step further. If you were born and raised in America, and hate and fear and racial prejudice are all you've ever known, if they're all you've ever seen..."
On a call he gets after the death of his son:
"I started toward her and the phone rang. It was a long-distance call from Alabama, collect. I accepted the charges. It was a white woman.
"Mister Gregory?"
"Yes, ma'am."
"I just heard on the radio that your son died, and let me tell you it serves you right, I'm real glad that happened, you coming down here where you don't belong and stirring up all..."
"I'm glad, too. I had five million dollars' worth of insurance on him."
There was a long silence, and then she said: "I'm sorry, please forgive me."
Such an awe-inspiring, beautifully written and sincerely felt memoir. I hope I get this back.
Before I lend this book to my boss and risk its disappearance, I thought I'd transcribe a few of my favorite parts. On meeting his wife:
"She was so nervous while she was writing it down, she kept tearing the paper with her pencil point. I rolled up the paper and put it in my pocket. Lillian Smith stayed through the second show and the Sunday evening show and she kept staring at me like no one in Willard, Ohio, would ever believe she had actually talked to this great man. When I left that night with the girl I was dating at the time, I went over and said good night to Lillian. I thought it might give her a thrill to call her, just because she was so sure I wouldn't.
That night, back at Ozelle and William's I lay in bed and thought about that face staring up at me, that soft, little-girl face so out of place in a night club. It suddenly dawned on me that my mother would have looked that way if she had ever been to a night club. I had a dream that night about Momma, and I was Richard again, and she came off the streetcar and ran into the house and said: "Richard, oh, Richard, I spoke to the star of the show, Harry Belafonte, I talked to Harry Belafonte" and I said: "No, Momma," and she said: "Yes, I did, I really did, and he's going to call me on the phone." When I woke up that Monday morning and I could almost see her expression over the phone. I just talked to her, and told her I'd call her back soon and we'd have lunch."
(!!!)
On meeting a convict after a show he plays in a prison:
"He was an artist, and he asked me if I'd like to see his work. I did. When I saw it I got weak in the knees. He had drawings of women, of what he thought women looked like. But every one had a man's face, a man's eyes, a man's nose, a man's jaw, a man's lips. They had long hair and they had breasts and they were wearing lipstick and dresses. But every one was really a man.
It was so weird that a man should think he was drawing a woman and he was really drawing a man. But that convict had only seen men for fifty years; those male faces were all he knew. And I talked to Lil about it and the more we talked and the more I thought about it, the more frightened I got. If you had told that old man that his drawings were all wrong he would have called you a liar and been ready to fight. And then Lil and I carried it one step further. If you were born and raised in America, and hate and fear and racial prejudice are all you've ever known, if they're all you've ever seen..."
On a call he gets after the death of his son:
"I started toward her and the phone rang. It was a long-distance call from Alabama, collect. I accepted the charges. It was a white woman.
"Mister Gregory?"
"Yes, ma'am."
"I just heard on the radio that your son died, and let me tell you it serves you right, I'm real glad that happened, you coming down here where you don't belong and stirring up all..."
"I'm glad, too. I had five million dollars' worth of insurance on him."
There was a long silence, and then she said: "I'm sorry, please forgive me."
Such an awe-inspiring, beautifully written and sincerely felt memoir. I hope I get this back.
July 29, 2020
4.5 stars.
A raw, provocative and spellbinding auto-biography of a young Dick Gregory. I had no idea he was so integrally involved with the early Civil Rights Movement in Alabama. He knew many of those who died in the Civil Rights movement like Medgar Evers personally — which adds some additional soberness to this comedian’s story.
A raw, provocative and spellbinding auto-biography of a young Dick Gregory. I had no idea he was so integrally involved with the early Civil Rights Movement in Alabama. He knew many of those who died in the Civil Rights movement like Medgar Evers personally — which adds some additional soberness to this comedian’s story.
Read
November 22, 2021Best growing up black Story that I have ever read. 10 stars
August 21, 2010
i've always been vaguely aware of dick gregory as a comic, but a few weeks ago i watched this documentary called one bright shining moment about george mcgovern's 1972 run for president, and dick gregory's appearances in it were just amazing; the intelligence and humor and anger and humanity coming off that guy were incredible. so i went out and bought this book, an autobiography that takes him from his dirt-poor fatherless childhood shining shoes and stealing things up through high school and college, where he became a track star, to his first gig as an integrated-audiences comic at the playboy club, to his time as a leader in the civil rights movement. the story is familiar (not to take anything away from it) but it's his voice which is so great. a self-deprecating braggart, he somehow manages to be pissed-off and kind, cynical and hopeful, sad and funny at the same time, all the time. he writes casually, in run-on sentences and short quips, and seems to be completely honest about everything. he paints himself in bad light quite often, and even seems to dismiss most of his heroic deeds as products of the worst side of his nature (he calls that part of himself that won't back down, "the monster," and is ambivalent about it). i'd give this book five stars but it kinda peters out at the end, just when you want it to kick in. probably because he wrote it in 1964, when so much was still happening.
here he is, at the end of the second (of three) sections, trying to decide whether or not to get on the plane in the morning and fly down south to participate in the greenwood civil rights march:
I lay there all that night, into the morning, going, not going, picking the tickets out of the wastebasket, throwing them back in, but never tearing them up. And as I lay there my own life started spinning around in my mind, and my stomach turned over, and I thought about St. Louis and Momma and Richard, running off to buy himself a dinner of Twinkie Cupcake and a bottle of Pepsi-Cola, little Richard whose Daddy was so broken by the system that he ran away and came back just to take the rent money out of the jar in the kitchen. Goddamn, we're always running and hiding, and then I thought about an old man whose wife had died, and about Clyde Kennard, and about James Meredith, they didn't run away, and now it was almost dawn in Philadelphia and there was a familiar dry taste in my mouth, and that old hot water was seeping into a cold body and my room was the grandstand of the biggest stadium in the world-- America-- and the race was for survival and the monster said go.
here he is, at the end of the second (of three) sections, trying to decide whether or not to get on the plane in the morning and fly down south to participate in the greenwood civil rights march:
I lay there all that night, into the morning, going, not going, picking the tickets out of the wastebasket, throwing them back in, but never tearing them up. And as I lay there my own life started spinning around in my mind, and my stomach turned over, and I thought about St. Louis and Momma and Richard, running off to buy himself a dinner of Twinkie Cupcake and a bottle of Pepsi-Cola, little Richard whose Daddy was so broken by the system that he ran away and came back just to take the rent money out of the jar in the kitchen. Goddamn, we're always running and hiding, and then I thought about an old man whose wife had died, and about Clyde Kennard, and about James Meredith, they didn't run away, and now it was almost dawn in Philadelphia and there was a familiar dry taste in my mouth, and that old hot water was seeping into a cold body and my room was the grandstand of the biggest stadium in the world-- America-- and the race was for survival and the monster said go.
May 25, 2011
Beautifully written. Full of gripping quotes and descriptive stories. Gregory's autobiography made me want to cry at times, it made me afraid, and it even made me celebrate Gregory's accomplishments with him. This is definitely one of the best works I've read this year and I recommend it to everyone interested in American history. Gregory is a smart aleck, a trouble maker, a hero, an educator, and a motivator. I learned a lot from this book and I truly believe it will stick with me for a very long time. Nigger is an excellent read.1
August 9, 2007
From surviving a Dickensian childhood to psyching out a knuckle-dragging racist, there's nothing in Gregory's autobiography that isn't gripping, heartbreaking and wise.
November 7, 2022
I mentioned I was a sucker for a provocative title when I reviewed Nigger: The Strange Career of a Troublesome Word, and one of my friends (Hi, Dave!) pointed me toward this.
I was not very familiar with Dick Gregory before cracking the cover, and in many ways I feel I still am not since this autobiography only goes up through 1963 as he is first breaking big in his stand-up career and starting his involvement with the Civil Rights Movement.
Nearly half the book is given over to his childhood of poverty and his success as a high school and collegiate runner. It's often heartbreaking and disturbing, but sometimes suffers from that sort of old man embellished storytelling -- y'know, like, I went to and from school in a giant blizzard uphill both ways -- with Gregory frequently reminding us that he was a bullshit artist and hustler, casting a bit of doubt over the reliability of his narration.
The portion about his comedy routines is a bit lacking in the actual jokes he told but includes enough to make me want to seek out some of his recorded performances.
The final section is the most dramatic as he uses his fame to bring attention to the growing Civil Rights Movement, but he breezes in and out of events and locations pretty quickly, flying into a southern state for a protest and flying out to perform a show across the country. A personal tragedy gets twined awkwardly into this section, and then the book abruptly ends with a brilliant speech he gives in Selma to help promote a voter registration drive.
I don't think this is an ideal introduction to Dick Gregory for someone as ignorant of him as I was, but it has certainly whetted my appetite to learn more about him.
I was not very familiar with Dick Gregory before cracking the cover, and in many ways I feel I still am not since this autobiography only goes up through 1963 as he is first breaking big in his stand-up career and starting his involvement with the Civil Rights Movement.
Nearly half the book is given over to his childhood of poverty and his success as a high school and collegiate runner. It's often heartbreaking and disturbing, but sometimes suffers from that sort of old man embellished storytelling -- y'know, like, I went to and from school in a giant blizzard uphill both ways -- with Gregory frequently reminding us that he was a bullshit artist and hustler, casting a bit of doubt over the reliability of his narration.
The portion about his comedy routines is a bit lacking in the actual jokes he told but includes enough to make me want to seek out some of his recorded performances.
The final section is the most dramatic as he uses his fame to bring attention to the growing Civil Rights Movement, but he breezes in and out of events and locations pretty quickly, flying into a southern state for a protest and flying out to perform a show across the country. A personal tragedy gets twined awkwardly into this section, and then the book abruptly ends with a brilliant speech he gives in Selma to help promote a voter registration drive.
I don't think this is an ideal introduction to Dick Gregory for someone as ignorant of him as I was, but it has certainly whetted my appetite to learn more about him.
August 24, 2017
Wow. I started this in the afternoon and was so amazed by it that I finished it the same day. Honestly, Dick Gregory is one of those names I occasionally came across when reading about the civil rights movement, but I never really thought too much about him. With his passing this week I decided to learn more and start with his autobiography. Again, wow.
The book is basically broken into three sections.
The first about his childhood, the second about his start in comedy, and the third about his work in the civil rights.
The first section is as raw and painful as autobiography gets. Gregory describes the shame he felt as a child for being black, poor, and fatherless. This is not to say his father doesn’t make an appearance, he does in a most memorable manner. But as Gregory says, his dad was “no-good”. What shines here is his portrayal of his mom who while disappointing at times (she begs Gregory to be good to his estranged father so he won’t leave again while he beats around the apartment) manages to hold his family together. For this reason, Gregory is fiercely protective of her against outsiders such as this social worker who visited his home:
"“We have reason to suspect you are working, Miss Gregory, and you can be sure I’m going to check on you. We don’t stand for welfare cheaters.” Momma, a welfare cheater. A criminal who couldn’t stand to see her kids go hungry, or grow up in slums and end up mugging people in dark corners. I guess the system didn’t want her to get off relief, the way it kept sending social workers around to make sure Momma wasn’t trying to make things better."
I also love how his mom, when Gregory starts to find some success that goes slightly to his head, brings him right back down to earth:
I’d come running home, telling her the coach said I needed a special kind of food for my training. She’d tell me I’d better stop by the coach’s house to get it.
“You don’t understand, Momma. I’m putting the Gregory name on the map.”
“Honey, I put you in the world, and the world was made before maps.”
She reminds me a lot of my own mom!
The second section goes into Gregory’s sudden fatherhood and rise to fame as a comedian. It’s interesting in parts but not nearly as riveting as section one or the section to follow.
In section three Gregory is now a father, and successful but begins to feel that he needs to be on the frontlines of what is happening in America. He goes to Alabama, Mississippi, Memphis, and other Southern cities and marches with Medgar Evers, Martin Luther King and others. His trips into the heart of the South are nothing short of terrifying at times and yet being the gifted comedian he is, he is able to find humor even in the darkest hours.
I came away from this book with an incredible amount of respect for Dick Gregory and my only regret is that I didn’t know more about him while he was still with us. Something that I will definitely rectify from here on out.
February 6, 2014
I picked up a used copy of this book many years ago, I think at the book sale the public library used to hold (although my copy is a yellowed, well-worn paperback, not an ex-library book), and it has sat on various shelves of mine, waiting to be read. I started it on vacation in Michigan a couple summers ago, but its opening chapter, set on a bleak Christmas Eve in St. Louis in the 1940s, didn't fit well with warm beach fun and I put it down. This time around, I found it consistently engaging. Like African American classics such as Douglass' Narrative or Booker T.'s Up From Slavery or Ellison's, Invisible Man, this is a story of uplift, a journey from poverty to affluence, from humble origins to national prominence, from bitter oppression to strident defiance. The first part of the book details Gregory's tough childhood in the Ville in North St. Louis and his scrappy rise to local track stardom. It surely ranks as one of the most notable memoiristic testimonies from a St. Louisan. In the second section, Gregory goes from college to military service and then struggles to break into show business, which he eventually does despite some harrowing failures as a night club operator. In the third section, Gregory becomes involved in the Civil Rights Movement and offers a fascinating first-person perspective on famous historical events.
The title of the book exemplifies a characteristic rhetorical move of Gregory's: to take away an opponent's power to hurt him by co-opting the worst that could be said about him. As a kid, when guys in his neighborhood ribbed him about his large family's poverty, he would joke that so many of his siblings slept in the bed with him that when he got up to pee in the middle of the night he had to leave a bookmark to save his place. At the very end of this book, Gregory speaks to his dead mother about his dreams for the Civil Rights Movement (the book was published in 1964), his confidence that "we're ready to change a system, a system where a white man can destroy a black man with a single word. Nigger." Gregory's courageous participation in the nonviolent resistance movement was one way of changing that system; the title of his book, in a different way, was another. I wonder, though, if that title is part of the reason the book is not widely read in schools. I'd be more likely to use it if it didn't have that title—it would otherwise be a pretty interesting book to use as an English teacher in St. Louis.
The title of the book exemplifies a characteristic rhetorical move of Gregory's: to take away an opponent's power to hurt him by co-opting the worst that could be said about him. As a kid, when guys in his neighborhood ribbed him about his large family's poverty, he would joke that so many of his siblings slept in the bed with him that when he got up to pee in the middle of the night he had to leave a bookmark to save his place. At the very end of this book, Gregory speaks to his dead mother about his dreams for the Civil Rights Movement (the book was published in 1964), his confidence that "we're ready to change a system, a system where a white man can destroy a black man with a single word. Nigger." Gregory's courageous participation in the nonviolent resistance movement was one way of changing that system; the title of his book, in a different way, was another. I wonder, though, if that title is part of the reason the book is not widely read in schools. I'd be more likely to use it if it didn't have that title—it would otherwise be a pretty interesting book to use as an English teacher in St. Louis.
December 10, 2011
if i can be affected by this like i have been and i consider myself an old grizzled veteran of these types of books, i can't imagine the effect it would have on a novice.
April 21, 2009
Probably one of the best autobiographies I have ever read. I've lost count how many times I've read it.
December 25, 2010
"Dear Momma---Wherever you are, if ever you hear the word "nigger" again, remember they are advertising my book"
August 30, 2016
Excellent account by Robert Lipsyte (ghost) of a truly comic comedian -- who is always open and honest. Without Cosby pretentiousness.
September 15, 2014
This Book Is One Of The Best I've Ever Read. You Will Be Entertained And Hooked All Throughout The Book.
July 21, 2017
One of the best books I have read in a while. I felt like I was right there with him experiencing the same events. Definitely worth reading!!
July 10, 2013
I heard of Dick Gregory a few months ago when I stumbled across a random youtube video of him giving some kind of conference at a university. It was an hour long and I didn't think I was going to make it all the way through, but I was immediately struck by how witty he was and ended up watching the entirety of it and looking him up on Wikipedia afterward. When I found out he had written a few autobiographies, I decided to purchase one.
Although everyone knows the dark past of American history, it's difficult to really take it personally if you were born in the 90's, after the civil rights movement. Reading about Dick Gregory's life growing up as a poor black kid in the south put a face and experiences to that time, rather than just accepting what's in a history book or what is general knowledge. It makes you thankful that we've come this far today, although there is still a long way to go.
The second part of the autobiography was a little hard for me to get through, I didn't blaze through it like the first. His attitude of "I know I'll make it someday" and borrowing money from everyone left and right just made me uncomfortable, even though I was already aware he's well-off and respected now. Reading it just had me thinking there was no way he could come out on top. I was also a little disappointed that it focused so much on just his business ventures with the nightclub, but by the third part of the book I could easily forgive that.
That being said, the third part is INTENSE. What this man and his family went through, putting himself in the line of fire in the civil rights movement is more than most Americans can imagine. His actions are downright admirable. His personal family tragedy also brought a tear to my eye, he just couldn't get a break. Reading about somebody who really fought to make this country a better place (not to mention a comedian!) was really just a great experience. I would recommend anyone to read this autobiography, especially those who are of a younger age, as I think it can stand to be educational in addition to just being [very] interesting.
Although everyone knows the dark past of American history, it's difficult to really take it personally if you were born in the 90's, after the civil rights movement. Reading about Dick Gregory's life growing up as a poor black kid in the south put a face and experiences to that time, rather than just accepting what's in a history book or what is general knowledge. It makes you thankful that we've come this far today, although there is still a long way to go.
The second part of the autobiography was a little hard for me to get through, I didn't blaze through it like the first. His attitude of "I know I'll make it someday" and borrowing money from everyone left and right just made me uncomfortable, even though I was already aware he's well-off and respected now. Reading it just had me thinking there was no way he could come out on top. I was also a little disappointed that it focused so much on just his business ventures with the nightclub, but by the third part of the book I could easily forgive that.
That being said, the third part is INTENSE. What this man and his family went through, putting himself in the line of fire in the civil rights movement is more than most Americans can imagine. His actions are downright admirable. His personal family tragedy also brought a tear to my eye, he just couldn't get a break. Reading about somebody who really fought to make this country a better place (not to mention a comedian!) was really just a great experience. I would recommend anyone to read this autobiography, especially those who are of a younger age, as I think it can stand to be educational in addition to just being [very] interesting.
October 15, 2016
One of those "slave narrative" type memoirs: so broke as a kid, makes a break for it and then becomes rich and famous and fighting for freedom now that he's grown up. But this one is really good. The childhood to adolescence stuff in St. Louis is devastating. How many talented people are offered as human sacrifices when they are still children? Gregory's mother looms large and for me, refuses to stay down there in the 1940s. How many single mothers are working as "domestics," facing the kind of daily hell that Lucille Gregory faced in 2016? Millions and millions.
Gregory writes often about a feeling that comes over him that he calls "the Monster." It is the feeling that motivates him to win track meets, to do stand up comedy and to demonstrate for civil rights with the SCLC and SNCC, but it is also the feeling that makes him lie and hustle and do other strange things. I felt like there was some interesting psychology of oppression stuff happening in this book. Not everyone's "Monster" is like Gregory's avenging angel.
I thought there would be more early '60s sophisticated stand-up and more detail about the civil rights struggle and people like Medgar Evers but this book is maybe more meant as an explanation to the fans of that period of how a guy who was succeeding could get so wrapped up in activism. Of course, that is also very interesting. Why do some people wind up being Dick Gregory and others end up like Bill Cosby?
A funny bonus for me was that the guy who gave me this book twenty years ago had snuck a "Don Cornell" trading card in it on a page where Gregory mentions Don Cornell. That makes a total of four really weird dudes. Don Cornell, of course, then me, and the friend who snuck that card in the book. And of course Dick Gregory, "Drum Major for Justice," an 80+ year old man who drinks his own pee and someone whose Monster is thankfully still very active.
Gregory writes often about a feeling that comes over him that he calls "the Monster." It is the feeling that motivates him to win track meets, to do stand up comedy and to demonstrate for civil rights with the SCLC and SNCC, but it is also the feeling that makes him lie and hustle and do other strange things. I felt like there was some interesting psychology of oppression stuff happening in this book. Not everyone's "Monster" is like Gregory's avenging angel.
I thought there would be more early '60s sophisticated stand-up and more detail about the civil rights struggle and people like Medgar Evers but this book is maybe more meant as an explanation to the fans of that period of how a guy who was succeeding could get so wrapped up in activism. Of course, that is also very interesting. Why do some people wind up being Dick Gregory and others end up like Bill Cosby?
A funny bonus for me was that the guy who gave me this book twenty years ago had snuck a "Don Cornell" trading card in it on a page where Gregory mentions Don Cornell. That makes a total of four really weird dudes. Don Cornell, of course, then me, and the friend who snuck that card in the book. And of course Dick Gregory, "Drum Major for Justice," an 80+ year old man who drinks his own pee and someone whose Monster is thankfully still very active.
September 28, 2023
"This is a Bible here. We know it's a book. Now if I sat here and called it a bicycle, I have called it something it is not. So where does the bicycle exist? In my mind. I'm the sick one, right?"
This quote is from a passage near the end of Gregory's book, in which he dissects the book's title in front of an audience of black protesters and white policemen trying to suppress them It's moments like this that transcend all of the hunger, pain, anger and dogged survivalism that underlines his comedy and writing here. Gregory's memoir is a whirlwind story of a boy growing into a man who refuses to give up or stand down concerning the injustices around him. If I had a 1/10 of the bravery he has I would be proud.
Gregory is still alive and participating in activism. Upon finishing this book, I look forward to a new year while thinking of his observations. Although it was written over fifty years ago, his sentiments still ring true today.
"In America, with all of its evils and faults, you can still reach through the forest and see the sun. But we don't know yet whether that sun is rising or setting for our country." -DG
This quote is from a passage near the end of Gregory's book, in which he dissects the book's title in front of an audience of black protesters and white policemen trying to suppress them It's moments like this that transcend all of the hunger, pain, anger and dogged survivalism that underlines his comedy and writing here. Gregory's memoir is a whirlwind story of a boy growing into a man who refuses to give up or stand down concerning the injustices around him. If I had a 1/10 of the bravery he has I would be proud.
Gregory is still alive and participating in activism. Upon finishing this book, I look forward to a new year while thinking of his observations. Although it was written over fifty years ago, his sentiments still ring true today.
"In America, with all of its evils and faults, you can still reach through the forest and see the sun. But we don't know yet whether that sun is rising or setting for our country." -DG
March 20, 2017
I heard of Dick Gregory, but never knew his story. I had to get past the provocative title of this autobiography and learn about the flight of a man who was raised in an environment designed to produce hardships. Whether that was based on the color of his skin, his family financial situation, the lack of education or pure hate that existed in America at the time. I found it sad and exciting to read about all Gregory overcame to have a life of purpose and impact. This book shows how he was always set apart in his life (sports or entertainment) and played an instrumental role in a movement toward race equality, America, desperately needed.
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