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Bibliography

Editors, Biography.com. "Dick Gregory Biography." The Biography.com Website. A&E Television

Networks, September 26, 2016. Web. December 5, 2016.

When you make people laugh, you are able to grab their attention. This might have been how he was able to successfully explain his point of views about issues during the time period.

"Dick Gregory Quotes." Brainy Quote. BrainyQuote, 2016. Web. December 5, 2016.

"Once I realized the value of making people laugh, I got very good at it. Fast."

"Dick Gregory." Encyclopedia.com. Encyclopedia.com, 2016. Web. December 5, 2016.

"Dick Gregory Quotes." AZ Quotes. Web. December 5, 2016.

While being somewhat comedic, Dick tries to explain the conditions he grew up with.

"I never believed in Santa Claus because I knew no white dude would come into my neighborhood after dark."

Encyclopaedia Britannica, Editors. "Dick Gregory." Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica,

Inc, 2016. Web. December 5, 2016.

Taken from paragraph 6 in Shame, this quote reflects on his living conditions. Since his mother was always too busy with work and he had no father, Dick had no one to supply him with the amount of attention he would have preferred as a child. It also relates to judging a person without fully understanding their personal living conditions.

"All she saw from the front of the room was a little black boy who squirmed in his idiot's seat and made noises and poked the kids around him. I guess she couldn't see a kid who made noises because he wanted someone to know he was there."

Accomplishments

Found in paragraph 3, Dick was able to get her out of his system not only because he found a new love, but because he was able to be a good father to his own children, saving them from incidents of "shame".

"It wasn't until I was twenty-nine years old and married and making money that I really got her out of my system."

This quote, directly taken from Shame, shows how when people, especially children, are put in an environment that compares intellectual status, people start to compare other differences, such as race.

"I never learned hate at home, or shame. I had to go to school for that."

Dick Gregory wrote several books, including The Shadow that Scares Me (1968), No More Lies (1971), and Up from Nigger (1976). In addition, he released a weight-loss business in the mid 80's called the Slim/Safe Bahamian Diet and sold his own diet drink.

Quotes

"Dick Gregory." Pinterest. Pinterest, 2016. Web. December 5, 2016.

Staff, ABS. "Dick Gregory: Racists Are Out to Get Beyonce and Jay-Z." Atlanta Black Star. Atlanta Black Star, 2016. Web. December 5, 2016.

"Nigger." Good Reads. Goodreads Inc, 2016. Web. December 5, 2016.

"Dick Gregory Has 10 Kids He Barely Raised, See Why He Doesn’t Regret It." I Love Old School Music. 2015. Web. December 5, 2015.

Richard Claxton Gregory was born on October 12, 1932 in Saint Louis, Missouri. With no father, as described in the story, Dick Gregory grew up in poverty. His mother worked long hours as a maid to support Richard and his 5 siblings. While in high school, Richard joined the track team and broke many school records. Richard was able to receive a scholarship at Southern Illinois University in 1951. However, when his mother died in 1953, he left college and got drafted into the army. While in the army, Dick began performing stand-up comedy and end up winning his first talent show. After leaving the army, Richard began performing comedian shows in Chicago nightclubs. In 1959, Dick married Lillian Smith, and together had 10 children.

In 1961, Richard got asked by Hugh Hefner to perform at the Playboy Club in Chicago. There, Dick performed in from of white executives. The show was such a success that Dick got asked to perform for 6 more weeks. In a 2000 Boston Globe interview, Dick has stated that“It was the first time they had seen a black comic who was not bucking his eyes, wasn't dancing and singing and telling mother-in-law jokes." Richard Gregory's humor involved the modern issues of society during his time, such as problems with segregation and racism. On the Jack Paar's Tonight Show, Dick requested to sit and converse like white entertainers and was the first black guest to do so; he also become a recurring guest on the show.

In the early 1960's, Dick Gregory marched in protests with Medgar Evers and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Richard Gregory fought in issues like ending the Vietnam War, feminism, Native-American rights, and civil rights between races. Richard ran for mayor of Chicago in 1967 but lost to Richard Daley. In 1968, he ran for the president of the United States with the Freedom and Peace Party, but lost.

In the time of the early 1970's, Dick became involved with health and fitness issues. His family and himself moved to Plymouth, Massachusetts, where Dick began running marathons and became a vegetarian. In 2000, Dick was diagnosed with lymphoma. To put the cancer at bay, Dick stated that he relied on his healthy diet. However, he remained a popular speaker on civil and human rights at colleges and universities.

Background

DICK GREGORY

Shame

By Dominic Hernandez & Ashley Jones

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