Nigger: An Autobiography by Dick Gregory
First h/b edition
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| Author | Dick Gregory, with Robert Lipsyte |
|---|---|
| Subject | African American culture |
| Genre | Autobiography |
| Publisher |
E.P. Dutton h/b Pocket Books p/b |
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Publication date
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September 1964 |
| Media type | hardcover |
| Pages | 209 |
| Followed by | Write me in! (1968) |
The autobiography of comedian and social activist Dick Gregory, co-authored with Robert Lipsyte, nigger was originally published in September 1964 by E.P. Dutton, and has since 1965 been reprinted numerous times in an edition available through Pocket Books, altogether selling more than one million copies to date. Gregory earned a $200,000 advance from the book.
It was written during the American Civil Rights Movement. Gregory comments on his choice of title in the book's primary dedication, addressing his maternal ancestors,
Dear Momma -- Wherever you are, if ever you hear the word "nigger" again, remember they are advertising my book.
The book contains photographs of Gregory performing at the Village Gate; he and his brother (1942); his mother, Lucille; Gregory as a drummer at Southern Illinois University (1953); as an SIU sprinter and Outstanding Athlete of the Year (1953); with coach Leland Lingle (1954); with Sammy Davis, Jr. at Roberts Show Club, Chicago (1959); in a jail cell in Chicago; performing at the Hungry i, San Francisco (1963, shortly before the murder of Medgar Evars); at a voter registration rally, Greenwood, Mississippi (April 1963), among others.
Addressing his maternal ancestors again,
You didn't die a slave for nothing, Momma. You brought us up. You and all those Negro mothers who gave their kids the strength to go on, to take that thimble to the well while the whites were taking buckets. Those of us who weren't destroyed got stronger, got calluses on our souls. And now we're ready to change a system, a system where a white man can destroy a black man with a single word. Nigger.
The original book cover stylizes the main title, "nigger", in all lower case, cursive writing. The title in its other appearances is otherwise formatted as most other books, either in all uppercase, or with normal book title capitalization.
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