Author | Dick Gregory, with Robert Lipsyte |
---|---|
Subject | African American culture, Asian American culture |
Genre | Autobiography |
Publisher | E. P. Dutton h/b Pocket Books p/b |
Publication date | 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. [1] The book has never been out of print since its publication. [2] Gregory continued his life story in two subsequent books, Up From Nigger and Callus On My Soul. Gregory earned a $200,000 advance from the book. [3]
It was written during the American Civil Rights Movement. Gregory comments on his choice of title in the book's primary dedication, addressing his late mother,
Dear Momma -- Wherever you are, if ever you hear the word "nigger" again, remember they are advertising my book. [4]
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 Evers); 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. [5]
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.
The New York Times wrote, in its review,
Powerful and ugly and beautiful...a moving story of a man who deeply wants a world without malice and hate and is doing something about it." [6]
The book has been the subject of critical commentary, particularly in reference to its use of the pejorative term as the title. [7] [8] It remains one of his best known works. [9]
In 2016, the Dean of Matteo Ricci College at Seattle University was forced to resign after students protested her recommending the book to an African-American student. [10] While the controversy was ongoing, Dick Gregory published an article supporting her against the protesters. [11]
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a novel by American author Mark Twain that was first published in the United Kingdom in December 1884 and in the United States in February 1885.
In the English language, nigger is a racial slur directed at black people. Starting in the 1990s, references to nigger have been increasingly replaced by the euphemism "the N-Word", notably in cases where nigger is mentioned but not directly used. In an instance of linguistic reappropriation, the term nigger is also used casually and fraternally among African Americans, most commonly in the form of nigga, whose spelling reflects the phonology of African-American English.
Richard Claxton Gregory was an American comedian, actor, writer, activist and social critic. His writings were best sellers. Gregory became popular among the African-American communities in the southern United States with his "no-holds-barred" sets, poking fun at the bigotry and racism in the United States. In 1961 he became a staple in the comedy clubs, appeared on television, and released comedy record albums.
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"Woman Is the Nigger of the World" is a song by John Lennon and Yoko Ono with Elephant's Memory from their 1972 album Some Time in New York City. The song was produced by Lennon, Ono and Phil Spector. Released as the only single from the album in the United States, the song sparked controversy at the time due to the use of the word nigger in the title, and many radio stations refused to play the song as a result.
Nigger is an ethnic slur typically directed at black people.
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The Legend of Nigger Charley is a 1972 blaxploitation Western film directed by Martin Goldman and starring Fred Williamson in the title role. The story of a trio of escaped slaves, it was released during the heyday of blaxploitation. Shot in Charles City, Virginia, Eve's Ranch, Santa Fe, New Mexico, Jamaica, and Arizona, it received backlash for its controversial title.
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Gather Together in My Name is a 1974 memoir by American writer and poet Maya Angelou. It is the second book in Angelou's series of seven autobiographies. Written three years after the publication of and beginning immediately following the events described in I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, it follows Angelou, called Rita, from the ages of 17 to 19. The title is taken from the Bible, but also conveys how one Black female lived in the white-dominated society of the U.S. following World War II.
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And Then There Were None is a mystery novel by the English writer Agatha Christie, who described it as the most difficult of her books to write. It was first published in the United Kingdom by the Collins Crime Club on 6 November 1939, as Ten Little Niggers, after an 1869 minstrel song that serves as a major plot element. The US edition was released in January 1940 with the title And Then There Were None, taken from the last five words of the song. Successive American reprints and adaptations use that title, though American Pocket Books paperbacks used the title Ten Little Indians between 1964 and 1986. UK editions continued to use the original title until 1985.
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This article treats the usage of the word nigger in reference to African Americans and others of African or mixed African and other ethnic origin in the art of Western culture and the English language.