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Dick Gregory, the comedian and civil rights crusader, died Saturday. He was 84.

His family announced the news on his public Facebook page.


"It is with enormous sadness that the Gregory family confirms that their father, comedic legend and civil rights activist Mr. Dick Gregory departed this earth tonight in Washington, DC," his son Christian Gregory said 

. "The family appreciates the outpouring of support and love and respectfully asks for their privacy as they grieve during this very difficult time. More details will be released over the next few days."


According to The Associated Press, Gregory, who was recently in and out of the hospital, died following a severe bacterial infection. NPR has not independently confirmed the cause of death.


Gregory gained attention as a comedian in the early 1960s, and was the first black comedian to widely win plaudits from white audiences. Darryl Littleton, author of the book 

, told NPR in 2009 that Gregory broke barriers with his appearances on television, just by sitting down:


Gregory "opened the door" for Bill Cosby to rise to fame, Littleton said. 

He was noted for his political and social activism, beginning in the civil rights movement in the 1960s. He attended the historic 1963 March on Washington. Forty years later, Gregory told Tavis Smiley on NPR about his experience at the march, describing it as "joy. It was festivity, and as far as the human eye could see."

Gregory talked in 2003 about his experience trying to integrate a restaurant in Mississippi before the march, showing he could inject some humor into a serious story:


He was direct in his language about race. He co-wrote with Robert Lipsyte the book 

 — the "n" is lowercase — in 1964. Gregory explained to NPR why he chose that title:


Gregory called the U.S. "the number-one most racist system on the planet. ... And I hope that America is willing to take this shoe of racism off and deal with racism and deal with sexism." 


He ran for mayor of Chicago in 1967 and ran for president in 1968 under the Freedom and Peace Party. He was on the ballot in eight states and got 47,133 votes, as 

 for NPR.
Hunger strikes were a frequent activist tool for Gregory. He told Juan Williams on 

 that he went without solid food for two and a half years to protest the war in Vietnam.


At one point, he said he weighed 365 pounds. But he lost a lot of weight fasting to protest the war. "I went on a fast, 40 days of water. Forty days of fruit juice. Forty days of fruit. And then 40 days of water again," Gregory told NPR.

In 2000, Gregory went on a hunger strike to protest police brutality, long before the current wave of activism. 


Gregory promoted some conspiracy theories, telling NPR in 2005 about conspiracies involving the death of Princess Diana and the Sept. 11 attacks. "The FBI and the CIA is probably the two most evil entities that ever existed in the history of the planet," Gregory told Ed Gordon on 

He was also an inspired health guru, who doled out advice to many for better living, including celebrities like Michael Jackson, whom he advised during the singer's trial. 

 to Gregory's healthful influence on Instagram, as "one of the first major black figures I saw advocating for a healthier lifestyle for black folks that were caught on unhealthy choices we've made in the name of cheaper survival options," he wrote.


Gregory joked about getting old with Tavis Smiley in 2002: 


Gregory was married for more than 50 years and had 10 children. His daughter Ayanna Gregory released a song called "A Ballad For My Father" in 2007. 

 that her father was gone from home often, but it was because "human rights became his life."


She sang: "As a little girl, I didn't know what you meant to this world. If I had a dime for every time somebody told me it's to save their lives and changed their minds. You planted seeds so long ago deep in me so I would grow."

Gregory mused about death in 2006, when talking with Ed Gordon about the passing at the time of Coretta Scott King:


"Let me just say this, whenever you die from this planet, I feel you go some place, and my trip going to be so long to wherever I go, I got instructions from my wife to put on a couple of backpacks."  Copyright 2019 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Arts and Culture

Emma Bowman

Author

Gregory was known for his sharp satire, political activism and health advocacy. He went on multiple hunger strikes to protest issues like the Vietnam War and police brutality.

Comedian and civil rights activist Dick Gregory dies at 84

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