Born on October 12th 1932, Richard "Dick" Gregory helped changed the mold of what was Expected/Accepted from Black Comedians in the 1950's & 60's. His rise into the National comedy Scene came on 1961, when Hugh Hefner personally requested his to perform at Chicago's Playboy Club. Within the next year, he was being booked all over the country.
Dick Gregory used his growing popularity to bring attention to the plight of The Civil Rights Movement (poverty, oppression, Voting rights, Violence, Segregation, etc). When Mississippi Local Officials stopped distributing Federal food surpluses to poor blacks, as punishment for SNCC efforts to increase voter registration, Gregory chartered a plane to bring in several tons of food to aid the citizenry. The Vietnam War, Hunger, Drug Abuse, Terrorism, Governmental Corruption & Imperialism came into Mr. Gregory's focus, as comedy soon found itself on the back burner. Protest Speeches & Hunger Strikes were now the weapons employed to get the message to the masses. Mr. Gregory also ran against Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley in 1966 & ran for President of The United States in 1968. Brother Dick Gregory was one of the first to fight back against The CIA, when reports began surfacing that the agency was responsible for the flood of Crack Cocaine that entered the country in the Mid-1980's. He was even already on the streets on St. Louis-as early as 1992-with The "Campaign For Human Dignity." He has also published five books since 1964. Today We Salute Brother Dick Gregory, on his 82nd BornDay. If You don't know about him, Learn About Him. Here's a couple of Speeches to get You Started...