Dick Gregory to speak at LU Tuesday

Posed portrait of Dick Gregory.
Posed portrait of Dick Gregory.

Almost from the beginning, controversy has followed St. Louisan Dick Gregory, and been a part of his career.

Gregory, 82, may talk about that when he visits Lincoln University next Tuesday as the third speaker in Lincoln University's new "Droppin' Knowledge Lecture Series."

His presentation begins at 6:30 p.m. in the Mitchell Auditorium of the Richardson Fine Arts Building on the Jefferson City campus.

The event is free and open to the public.

Richard Claxton "Dick" Gregory was born in St. Louis on Oct. 12, 1932, and raised in the then-segregated St. Louis Public Schools.

The biography on his website, www.dickgregory.com, noted Gregory attended St. Louis' Sumner High School, then went to Southern Illinois University-Carbondale on a track scholarship.

But, while in college, he was drafted in 1954 - and began performing comedy in the mid-1950s while serving in the Army.

Gregory briefly returned to the university after his discharge in 1956, but his biography reported he "left without a degree because he felt that the university "didn't want me to study, they wanted me to run.'"

So, in the hopes of performing comedy professionally, he moved to Chicago and, eventually, became part of a new generation of black comedians that included Nipsey Russell, Bill Cosby, and Godfrey Cambridge.

Gregory's comedy drew on current events, especially the racial issues, for much of his material, such as: "Segregation is not all bad. Have you ever heard of a collision where the people in the back of the bus got hurt?"

In 1963, Gregory published the autobiography, "Nigger," which became the No. 1 best-selling book in America. In the decades since, it has sold more than 7 million copies.

In the book's foreword, he explained his choice for the title - an explosive word which generated sometimes violent reactions. He included a note to his mother: "Whenever you hear the word "Nigger'," he wrote, "you'll know their (they're) advertising my book."

Over time, Gregory became more active in social issues - including politics and opposition to the Vietnam War - and spent less time performing.

He ran for U.S. president in 1968.

He also became known for staging political fasts, including one in Iran urging the Ayatollah Khomeini to release the American embassy staff taken hostage in 1979.

In 1984 he founded Health Enterprises Inc., a company that distributed weight loss products. In 1987 Gregory introduced the Slim-Safe Bahamian Diet, a powdered diet mix.

In 1996 Gregory returned to the stage, in a one-man show, "Dick Gregory Live!"

Said Sewell, Lincoln University's new provost and Academic Affairs vice president, created the "Droppin' Knowledge" lecture series "to bring to my university, my students, my colleagues, the same caliber of speakers that one would see at Harvard, at Morehouse," he said late last year. "I want to bring various types of scholars and entertainment icons to the university.

"They won't all be heavy intellectuals. We will have persons who will cross various areas of society.

"We're trying to engage in conversations about how do we create a better society?"