Dick Gregory dies at 84

(NNPA)— Legendary civil rights activist and comedian Dick Gregory died August 19.

He was 84.

“It is with enormous sadness that the Gregory family confirms that their father, comedic legend and civil rights activist Mr. Dick Gregory departed this earth tonight in Washington, DC,” said Christian Gregory, his son, in a statement posted on Facebook. “The family appreciates the outpouring of support and love and respectfully asks for their privacy as they grieve during this very difficult time.”

Born Richard Claxton “Dick” Gregory in St. Louis, Missouri on Oct. 12, 1932, Gregory became a comedian and civil rights activist whose social satire changed the way whites perceived African-American comedians, according to his biography.

DICK GREGORY

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.

His tenure as a replacement for Corey was so successful — at one performance he won over an audience that included southern white convention goers — that the Playboy Club offered him a contract extension from several weeks to three years,” Gregory’s biography said. “By 1962, Gregory had become a nationally known headline performer, selling out nightclubs, making numerous national television appearances, and recording popular comedy albums.”

While a student at Sumner High School in St. Louis he led a March protesting segregated schools. Later, inspired by the work of leaders such as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and organizations such as the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Com-mittee (SNCC), Gregory took part in the Civil Rights Move-ment and used his celebrity status to draw attention to such issues as segregation and disfranchisement, according to his biography.

“When local Mississippi governments stopped distributing Federal food surpluses to poor Blacks in areas where SNCC was encouraging voter registration, Gregory chartered a plane to bring in several tons of food,” his biography said. “He participated in SNCC’s voter registration drives and in sit-ins to protest segregation, most notably at a restaurant franchise in downtown Atlanta, Georgia. Only later did Gregory disclose that he held stock in the chain.”

Gregory’s autobiography, Nigger, was published in 1963 and it became the number one best-selling book in America.◊