¶ … Nigger is an autobiography of Dick Gregory, comedian, athlete, Black activist and politician whose humor used social satire to raise American understanding of racism and its effects. This book is a sequel to his first autobiography, Nigger, and covers time from 1963 to 1975.
The book opens with an invitation to Gregory and his wife from the White House to stay there and help celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation. He did not feel fully emancipated and probably wouldn't have attended except for his wife's prodding.
Throughout the book the reader sees glimpses of Gregory's humor, starting with the very first anecdote, where he attempts to slap the President on the behind, a racing tradition, only to be mobbed by Secret Service agents prepared to protect the President from this event. As a runner in high school and college, Gregory works racing imagery into many stories in the book.
As Gregory tells of his experiences, he describes in vivid detail how he took major life events and considered how they affected his views of the world as a Black man. Gregory was an activist for many decades, often joined by his wife, who participated in integration sit-ins in Atlanta restaurants on Christmas Day. They realized that the picture of a woman pregnant with twins jailed for such a reason would get people's attention.
Some of Gregory's stories are truly hair-raising. He was well-known because of his comedy routines. He was well enough established...
In 1964, during a snowstorm in
Maryland, a white man recognized him from his
television appearances as well as his
activism, and called him a "nigger bastard." Although Gregory had been trained in non-violent responses, the man had caught him off-guard, and he punched the man. He threw the
money to pay for his gas on the snow, got in his
car and raced away, but the man followed him for miles through the blizzard at about 15 miles per hour, as fast as either of them could drive on the slippery roads. He finally came to a
restaurant, thinking he had found
safety, only to see the sign "No Colored Allowed." He and his partner managed to make it to Washington, D.C. And safety, but the incident seems to have validated his opinion of one year before that he was not fully emancipated.
All of the anecdotes provide illumination on troubling times in recent United States history. Because Gregory was so well-known, probably everyone who lived during this time can relate in one way or another to his stories. Many people saw him on television as a comedian, and people who lived through the times also remember the periods of racial turbulence. Dick Gregory was a comedian who charmed…
