| Nigger | |
|---|---|
| Author(s) | Dick Gregory, with Robert Lipsyte |
| Subject(s) | African American culture |
| Genre(s) | Autobiography |
| Publisher | E.P. Dutton |
| Publication date | September, 1964 |
| Media type | hardcover |
| Pages | 209 |
| ISBN | n/a |
| Followed by | Write me in! (1968) |
Nigger: An Autobiography by Dick Gregory is an autobiography by comedian and social activist Dick Gregory, published in 1964 by E.P. Dutton, and reprinted by Pocket Books from 1965 to present. The book was co-authored by Robert Lipsyte. It has had numerous reprints, is still in print today, and has sold well over 1 million copies.[1]
Contents |
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.[2] | ” |
The book contains photographs of Gregory performing at the Village Gate; him 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. | ” |
| “ | When we're through, Momma, there won't be any niggers any more. | ” |
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."[3] | ” |
The book has been the subject of critical commentary, particularly in reference to its use of the pejorative term as the title.[4][5] It remains one of his best known works.[6]