Dick Gregory Biography

American comedian, actor, writer, activist and social critic (1932–2017)For persons of a similar name, see Richard Gregory (disambiguation).

Richard Claxton Gregory (October 12, 1932:– August 19, 2017) 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.

Gregory was at the forefront of political activism in the 1960s, when he protested against the Vietnam War and racial injustice, and advocated for animal rights. He was arrested multiple times and went on many hunger strikes. He later became a speaker and author. Gregory died of heart failure, aged 84, at a Washington, D.C., hospital in August 2017.

Early life

Gregory was born in St. Louis, Missouri, the son of Lucille, a housemaid, and Presley Gregory. At Sumner High School, he was aided by teachers, among them Warren St. James; he also excelled at running, winning the state cross country championship in 1950. Gregory earned a track scholarship to Southern Illinois University (SIU), where he set school records as a half-miler and miler. He was named the university's outstanding student athlete of the year in 1953. He was a member of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity. In 1954, his college career was interrupted for two years when he was drafted into the United States Army. At the urging of his commanding officer, who had taken notice of his penchant for joking, Gregory got his start in comedy in the Army, where he entered and won several talent shows. In 1956, Gregory briefly returned to SIU after his discharge, but dropped out because he felt that the university "didn't want me to study, they wanted me to run."

In the hopes of becoming a professional comedian, Gregory moved to Chicago, Illinois, where he became part of a new generation of black comedians that included Nipsey Russell, Bill Cosby, and Godfrey Cambridge, all of whom broke with the minstrel tradition that presented stereotypical black characters. Gregory drew on current events, especially racial issues, for much of his material: "Segregation is not all bad. Have you ever heard of a collision where the people in the back of the bus got hurt?"

Career

1956–1964: Comedy career

Gregory started helping his family with the gigs he started to get at a young age. Gregory began his career as a comedian while serving in the military in the mid-1950s. He served in the Army for a year and a half at Fort Hood in Texas, Fort Lee in Virginia, and Fort Smith in Arkansas. He was drafted in 1954 while attending Southern Illinois University. After being discharged in 1956, he returned to the university but did not receive a degree. He moved to Chicago with a desire to perform comedy professionally. In 1958, Gregory opened the Apex Club nightclub in Illinois. The club failed and landed Gregory in financial hardship. In 1959, Gregory landed a job as master of ceremonies at the Roberts Show Club.

While working for the United States Postal Service during the daytime, Gregory performed as a comedian in small, primarily black-patronized nightclubs of the Chitlin' Circuit. In an interview with The Huffington Post, Gregory described the history of black comics as limited: "Blacks could sing and dance in the white night clubs but weren't allowed to stand flat-footed and talk to white folks, which is what a comic does."

In 1961, Gregory was working at the black-owned Roberts Show Bar in Chicago when he was spotted by Hugh Hefner.

Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. I understand there are a good many Southerners in the room tonight. I know the South very well. I spent twenty years there one night. Last time I was down South I walked into this restaurant and this white waitress came up to me and said, "We don't serve colored people here." I said, "That's all right. I don't eat colored people. Bring me a whole fried chicken." Then these three white boys came up to me and said, "Boy, we're giving you fair warning. Anything you do to that chicken, we're gonna do to you." So I put down my knife and fork, I picked up that chicken and I kissed it. Then I said, "Line up, boys!"

Gregory attributed the launch of his career to Hefner. Based on his performance at Roberts Show Bar, Hefner hired Gregory to work at the Chicago Playboy Club as a replacement for comedian "Professor" Irwin Corey.

In 1961, Gregory made his New York debut at The Blue Angel nightclub, also recording a live set there, "Dick Gregory at the Blue Angel" for his album East & West. He soon came back to Chicago and finally got his big break at the Playboy Club in Chicago, also in 1961, that was supposed to be one night and ended up being six weeks and earned him a spot in Time and a guest appearance on Jack Paar’s show and other night clubs shows, etc.

Gregory's comedy occasioned controversy in some conservative white circles. The administration of the University of Tennessee, for instance, branded Gregory an "extreme racist" whose "appearance would be an outrage and an insult to many citizens of this state", and revoked his invitation by students to speak on campus. The students sued, with noted litigator William Kunstler as their counsel, and in Smith v. University of Tennessee, 300 F. Supp. 777 (E.D. Tenn. 1969), won an order from the court that the university's policy was "too broad and vague". The University of Tennessee then implemented an "open speaker" system, and Gregory subsequently performed in April 1970.

In 1964, Gregory's book, *, was published. Since then, the book has never been out of print. In 2019 a trade paperback was published as well as an audio version. Gregory was number 82 on Comedy Central's list of the 100 Greatest Stand-ups of all time and had his own star on the St. Louis Walk of Fame.

1967–1969: Political career

Gregory began his political career by running against Richard J. Daley for Mayor of Chicago in 1967. Though he did not win, this would not prove to be the end of his participation in electoral politics.

Gregory ran for president in the 1968 United States presidential election as a write-in candidate of the Freedom and Peace Party, which had broken off from the Peace and Freedom Party. He garnered 47,097 votes, including one from Hunter S. Thompson, with fellow activist Mark Lane as his running mate in some states. His running mate in New Jersey was Dr. David Frost of Plainfield, a biologist, Rutgers professor, and Chairman of NJ SANE (Committee for a Sane Nuclear Policy). Famed pediatrician Dr. Benjamin Spock was the running mate in Virginia and Pennsylvania garnering more than the party he had left. The Freedom and Peace Party also ran other candidates, including Beulah Sanders for New York State Senate and Flora Brown for New York State *embly. His efforts landed him on the master list of Nixon's political opponents.

Gregory then wrote the book Write Me In about his presidential campaign. One anecdote in the book relates the story of a publicity stunt that came out of Operation Breadbasket in Chicago. The campaign had printed one-dollar bills with Gregory's image on them, some of which made it into circulation. The majority of these bills were quickly seized by the federal government, much in part to the bills resembling authentic US currency enough to work in many dollar-cashing machines of the day. Gregory avoided being charged with a federal crime, later joking that the bills could not really be considered United States currency, because "everyone knows a black man will never be on a U.S. bill." On October 15, 1969, Gregory spoke at the Moratorium to End the War in Vietnam demonstration in Washington, D.C., where he joked to the crowd: "The President says nothing you kids do will have any effect on him. Well, I suggest he make one long-distance call to the LBJ ranch".

1970–2013: Post-standup career

He was a co-host with radio personality Cathy Hughes, and was a frequent morning guest, on WOL 1450 AM talk radio's The Power, the flagship station of Hughes' Radio One. He also appeared regularly on the nationally syndicated Imus in the Morning program.

Gregory appeared as "Mr. Sun" on the television show Wonder Showzen (the third episode, en*led "Ocean", aired in 2005). As Chauncey, a puppet character, imbibes a hallucinogenic substance, Mr. Sun warns: "Don't get hooked on imagination, Chauncey. It can lead to terrible, horrible things." Gregory also provided guest commentary on the Wonder Showzen Season One DVD. Large segments of his commentary were intentionally bleeped out, including the names of several dairy companies, as he made potentially defamatory remarks concerning ill effects that the consumption of cow milk has on human beings. Gregory attended and spoke at the funeral of James Brown on December 30, 2006, in Augusta, Georgia. Gregory was an occasional guest on the Mark Thompson's Make It Plain Sirius Channel 146 Radio Show from 3:pm to 6:pm PST. Gregory appeared on The Alex Jones Show on September 14, 2010, March 19, 2012, and April 1, 2014.

Gregory gave the keynote address for Black History Month at Bryn Mawr College on February 28, 2013.His take-away message to the students was to never accept injustice.

Once I accept injustice, I become injustice. For example, paper mills give off a terrible stench. But the people who work there don't smell it. Remember, Dr. King was **inated when he went to work for garbage collectors. To help them as workers to enforce their rights. They couldn't smell the stench of the garbage all around them anymore. They were used to it. They would eat their lunch out of a brown bag sitting on the garbage truck. One day, a worker was sitting inside the back of the truck on top of the garbage, and got crushed to death because no one knew he was there.

Towards the end of his life, he was featured in a Fantagraphics book by Pat Thomas en*led Listen, Whitey: The Sights and Sounds of Black Power 1965–1975, which uses the political recordings of the Civil Rights era to highlight sociopolitical meanings throughout the movement. Gregory is known for comedic performances that not only made people laugh, but mocked the establishment. According to Thomas, Gregory's monologues reflect a time when entertainment needed to be political to be relevant, which is why he included his standup in the collection. Gregory is featured along with the likes of Malcolm X, Huey P. Newton, Jesse Jackson, Martin Luther King Jr., Langston Hughes and Bill Cosby.

Political activism

Anti-Apartheid

On July 21, 1979, Gregory appeared at the Amandla Festival in Boston, where Bob Marley, Patti LaBelle, and Eddie Palmieri, among others, performed. Gregory gave a speech before Marley's performance, blaming President Jimmy Carter, and showing his support for the international Anti-Apartheid Movement.

Civil rights movement

Gregory in 1969 in Tallah*ee, Florida, during a civil rights speech

Gregory was active in the civil rights movement. On October 7, 1963, he came to Selma, Alabama, and spoke for two hours on a public platform two days before the voter registration drive known as "Freedom Day" (October 7, 1963).

In 1964, Gregory became more involved in civil rights activities, activism against the Vietnam War, economic reform, and anti-drug issues. As a part of his activism, he went on several hunger strikes and campaigns in America and overseas. In the early 1970s, he was banned from Australia, where government officials feared he would "...stir up demonstrations against the Vietnam war."

In 1964, Gregory played a role in the search for three missing civil rights workers, James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner, who vanished in Philadelphia, Mississippi. After Gregory and members of CORE met with Neshoba County Sheriff Lawrence A. Rainey, Gregory became convinced that the Sheriff's office was complicit. With cash provided by Hugh Hefner, Gregory announced a $25,000 reward for information. The FBI, which had been criticized for inaction, eventually followed suit with its own reward, and the rewards worked. The bodies of the three men were found by the FBI 44 days after they disappeared.

At a civil rights rally marking the 40th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, Gregory criticized the United States, calling it "the most dishonest, ungodly, unspiritual nation that ever existed in the history of the planet. As we talk now, America is 5 percent of the world's population and consumes 96 percent of the world's hard drugs".

Feminism

Gregory was an outspoken feminist, and in 1978 joined Gloria Steinem, Betty Friedan, Bella Abzug, Margaret Heckler, Barbara Mikulski, and others to lead the National ERA March for Ratification and Extension, a march down Pennsylvania Avenue to the United States Capitol. Gregory was invited to join the march by actress and activist Susan Blakely. There were over 100,000 on Women's Equality Day (August 26), 1978, to demonstrate for a ratification deadline extension for the proposed Equal Rights Amendment to the United States Cons*ution, and for the ratification of the ERA. The march was ultimately successful in extending the deadline to June 30, 1982, and Gregory joined other activists to the Senate for celebration and victory speeches by pro-ERA Senators, members of Congress, and activists. The ERA narrowly failed to be ratified by the extended ratification date.

Gregory at the Million Woman March in 1997

JFK **ination

Main article: The Warren Commission

Gregory became an outspoken critic of the findings of the Warren Commission concerning the **ination of John F. Kennedy by Lee Harvey Oswald. On February 3, 1975, in Washington, D.C., Gregory introduced photographic forensic investigator Stephen Jaffe and **ination researchers Robert J. Groden and Ralph Schoenman to the members and lawyers for the presidential commission known as the Rockefeller Commission who gave testimony and presented evidence. A month later, on March 6, 1975, Gregory and researcher Robert J. Groden appeared on Geraldo Rivera's late night ABC talk show Goodnight America. An important historical event happened that night when the famous Zapruder film of JFK's **ination was shown to the public on TV for the first time. The public's response and outrage to its showing led to the forming of the Hart-Schweiker investigation, which contributed to the Church Committee Investigation on Intelligence Activities by the United States, which resulted in the United States House Select Committee on **inations investigation.

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Gregory and Mark Lane conducted landmark research into the **ination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., helping move the U.S. House Select **inations Committee to investigate the murder, along with that of John F. Kennedy. Lane was the author of conspiracy theory books such as Rush to Judgment. The pair wrote the King conspiracy book Code Name Zorro, which postulated that convicted **in James Earl Ray did not act alone. Gregory also argued that the Moon landing was faked and the commonly accepted account of the 9/11 attacks was inaccurate, among other conspiracy theories.

In 1998, Gregory spoke at the celebration of the birthday of Dr Martin Luther King Jr., with President Bill Clinton in attendance. Not long after, the President told Gregory's long-time friend and public relations consultant Steve Jaffe, "I love Dick Gregory; he is one of the funniest people on the planet." They spoke of how Gregory had made a comment on Dr. King's birthday that broke everyone into laughter when he noted that the President made Speaker Newt Gingrich ride "in the back of the plane," on an Air Force One trip overseas.

Native American rights

In 1966, Gregory and his wife were arrested for illegal net fishing alongside of the Nisqually people in Washington state in a protest fish-in. The tribe was protesting against the state laws that ban forms of fishing other than hook-and-line because it barred their rights guaranteed to them through a federal treaty that allowed them to fish in their traditional ways. He was later released from jail in Olympia, Washington, after six weeks of fasting to call attention to the violation of Native American treaties by the United States government.

US Emb*y hostage crisis in Iran

Gregory was an outspoken activist during the US Emb*y hostage crisis in Iran. In 1980, he traveled to Tehran to attempt to negotiate the hostages' release and engaged in a public hunger strike there, weighing less than 100 pounds (45:kg) when he returned to the United States.

Vegetarianism and animal rights

Gregory became a vegetarian and fasting activist in 1965 "based on the philosophy of nonviolence practiced during the Civil Rights Movement." His 1973 book, Dick Gregory's Natural Diet For Folks Who Eat: Cookin' With Mother Nature, outlined how fasting and going vegetarian led to dramatic weight loss. He developed a diet drink called Bahamian Diet Nutritional Drink and went on TV shows to advocate his diet to help the morbidly obese. He wrote the introduction to Viktoras Kulvinskas' book Survival into the 21st Century. A talk he gave at Amherst College in 1986 inspired Tracye McQuirter to become a vegan activist.

In 1984, he founded Health Enterprises, Inc., a company that distributed weight-loss products. With this company, Gregory made efforts to improve the life expectancy of African Americans, which he believed was being hindered by poor nutrition and drug and alcohol abuse. In 1985, Gregory introduced the Slim-Safe Bahamian Diet, a powdered diet mix. He launched the weight-loss powder at the Whole Life Expo in Boston under the slogan "It's cool to be healthy." The diet mix, if drunk three times a day, was said to provide rapid weight loss. Gregory received a multimillion-dollar distribution contract to retail the diet.

In 1985, the Ethiopian government adopted, to reported success, Gregory's formula to combat malnutrition during a period of famine in the country. Gregory's clients included Muhammad Ali.

In 2003, Gregory and Cornel West wrote letters on behalf of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) to Kentucky Fried Chicken's CEO, asking that the company improve its animal-handling procedures.

Gregory saw civil rights and animal rights as intrinsically linked, once stating, "Because I'm a civil rights activist, I am also an animal rights activist. Animals and humans suffer and die alike. Violence causes the same pain, the same spilling of blood, the same stench of death, the same arrogant, cruel and vicious taking of life. We shouldn't be a part of it."

Gregory in 2015

Personal life

Gregory met his future wife Lillian Smith at an African-American club; they married in 1959. They had 11 children (including one son, Richard Jr., who died two months after birth): Michele, Lynne, Pamela, Paula, Xenobia (Stephanie), Gregory, Christian, Miss, Ayanna, and Yohance. In a 2000 interview with The Boston Globe, Gregory was quoted as saying, "People ask me about being a father and not being there. I say, 'Jack the Ripper had a father. Hitler had a father. Don't talk to me about family.'"

Health and death

Gregory was diagnosed with lymphoma in late 1999. He said he was treating the cancer with herbs, vitamins, and exercise, which he believed kept the cancer in remission.

Gregory died from heart failure at a hospital in Washington, D.C., on August 19, 2017, at the age of 84. A week prior to his death, he was hospitalized with a bacterial infection.

Filmography

Film

Television

Discography

• In Living Black and White (1961)
• East & West (1961)
• Dick Gregory Talks Turkey (1962)
• The Two Sides of Dick Gregory (1963)
• My Brother's Keeper (1963)
• Dick Gregory Running for President (1964)
• So You See... We All Have Problems (1964)
• Dick Gregory On: (1969)
• The Light Side: The Dark Side (1969)
• Dick Gregory's Frankenstein (1970)
• Live at the Village Gate (1970)
• At Kent State (1971)
• Caught in the Act (1974)
• The Best of Dick Gregory (1997)
• 21st Century "State of the Union" (2001)
• You Don't Know Dick (2016)

Bibliography

• *: An Autobiography by Dick Gregory, an autobiography written with Robert Lipsyte, E. P. Dutton, September 1964 (reprinted, Pocket Books, 1965–present)
• Write me in!, Bantam, 1968.
• From the Back of the Bus
• What's Happening?
• The Shadow that Scares Me
• Dick Gregory's Bible Tales, with Commentary, a book of Bible-based humor. ISBN:0-8128-6194-9
• Dick Gregory's Natural Diet for Folks Who Eat: Cookin' With Mother Nature!. ISBN:0-06-080315-0
• (with Shelia P. Moses), Callus on My Soul: A Memoir. ISBN:0-7582-0202-4
• Up from *
• No More Lies; The Myth and the Reality of American History
• Dick Gregory's Political Primer
• (with Mark Lane), Murder in Memphis: The FBI and the **ination of Martin Luther King
• (with Mel Watkins), African American Humor: The Best Black Comedy from Slavery to Today (Library of Black America)
• Robert Lee Green, Dick Gregory, daring Black leader
• African American Humor: The Best Black Comedy from Slavery to Today (editor). ISBN:1-55652-430-7
• "Not Poor, Just Broke", short story
• "Defining Moments in Black History: Reading Between the Lies", 2017.

Cultural references

Joe Morton played Gregory in 2016 in the play Turn Me Loose at the Westside Theatre in Manhattan.

A do*entary film about the life of Gregory en*led The One and Only Dick Gregory written and directed by Andre Gaines made its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival on June 19, 2021, and was released on Showtime television on July 4, 2021. The film was heralded by critics and rated on Rotten Tomatoes with a 100% critics' score.

See also

• Gregory v. City of Chicago
• List of civil rights leaders
• List of peace activists
• Timeline of the civil rights movement

References

External links

Wikiquote has quotations related to Dick Gregory.Wikimedia Commons has media related to Dick Gregory.

• Official website
• SNCC Digital Gateway: Dick Gregory, Do*entary website created by the SNCC Legacy Project and Duke University, telling the story of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and gr*roots organizing from the inside-out
• Dick Gregory at IMDb
• Dick Gregory discography at Discogs
• Dick Gregory at AllMusic
• A short biography from www.dickgregory.com
• "Dick Gregory photographs". University of Missouri–St. Louis.
• Dick Gregory's oral history video excerpts at The National Visionary Leadership Project
• Appearances on C-SPAN

Activist
groups

• Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights
• Atlanta Student Movement
• Black Panther Party
• Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters
• Congress of Racial Equality (CORE)
• Committee for Freedom Now
• Committee on Appeal for Human Rights
  • An Appeal for Human Rights
• Council for United Civil Rights Leadership
• Council of Federated Organizations
• Dallas County Voters League
• Deacons for Defense and Justice
• Georgia Council on Human Relations
• Highlander Folk School
• Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights
• Lowndes County Freedom Organization
• Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party
• Montgomery Improvement *ociation
• NAACP
  • Youth Council
• Nashville Student Movement
• Nation of Islam
• Northern Student Movement
• National Council of Negro Women
• National Urban League
• Operation Breadbasket
• Regional Council of Negro Leadership
• Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC)
• Southern Regional Council
• Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC)
• The Freedom Singers
• United Auto Workers (UAW)
• Wednesdays in Mississippi
• Women's Political Council

Activists

• Ralph Abernathy
• Victoria Gray Adams
• Zev Aelony
• Mathew Ahmann
• Muhammad Ali
• William G. Anderson
• Gwendolyn Armstrong
• Arnold Aronson
• Ella Baker
• James Baldwin
• Marion Barry
• Daisy Bates
• Harry Belafonte
• James Bevel
• Claude Black
• Gloria Blackwell
• Randolph Blackwell
• Unita Blackwell
• Ezell Blair Jr.
• Joanne Bland
• Julian Bond
• Joseph E. Boone
• William Holmes Borders
• Amelia Boynton
• Bruce Boynton
• Raylawni Branch
• Stanley Branche
• Ruby Bridges
• Aurelia Browder
• H. Rap Brown
• Ralph Bunche
• Guy Carawan
• Stokely Carmichael
• Johnnie Carr
• James Chaney
• J. L. Chestnut
• Shirley Chisholm
• Colia Lafayette Clark
• Ramsey Clark
• Septima Clark
• Xernona Clayton
• Eldridge Cleaver
• Kathleen Cleaver
• Charles E. Cobb Jr.
• Annie Lee Cooper
• Dorothy Cotton
• Claudette Colvin
• Vernon Dahmer
• Jonathan Daniels
• Abraham Lincoln Davis
• Angela Davis
• Joseph DeLaine
• Dave Dennis
• Annie Devine
• Patricia Stephens Due
• Joseph Ellwanger
• Charles Evers
• Medgar Evers
• Myrlie Evers-Williams
• Chuck *er
• James Farmer
• Walter Fauntroy
• James Forman
• Marie Foster
• Golden Frinks
• Andrew Goodman
• Robert Graetz
• Fred Gray
• Jack Greenberg
• Dick Gregory
• Lawrence Guyot
• Prathia Hall
• Fannie Lou Hamer
• Fred Hampton
• William E. Harbour
• Vincent Harding
• Dorothy Height
• Audrey Faye Hendricks
• Lola Hendricks
• Aaron Henry
• Oliver Hill
• Donald L. Hollowell
• James Hood
• Myles Horton
• Zilphia Horton
• T. R. M. Howard
• Ruby Hurley
• Cecil Ivory
• Jesse Jackson
• Jimmie Lee Jackson
• Richie Jean Jackson
• T. J. Jemison
• Esau Jenkins
• Barbara Rose Johns
• Vernon Johns
• Frank Minis Johnson
• Clarence Jones
• J. Charles Jones
• Matthew Jones
• Vernon Jordan
• Tom Kahn
• Clyde Kennard
• A. D. King
• C.B. King
• Coretta Scott King
• Martin Luther King Jr.
• Martin Luther King Sr.
• Bernard Lafayette
• James Lawson
• Bernard Lee
• Sanford R. Leigh
• Jim Letherer
• Stanley Levison
• John Lewis
• Viola Liuzzo
• Z. Alexander Looby
• Joseph Lowery
• Clara Luper
• Danny Lyon
• Malcolm X
• Mae Mallory
• Vivian Malone
• Bob Mants
• Thurgood Marshall
• Benjamin Mays
• Franklin McCain
• Charles McDew
• Ralph McGill
• Floyd McKissick
• Joseph McNeil
• James Meredith
• William Ming
• Jack Minnis
• Amzie Moore
• Cecil B. Moore
• Douglas E. Moore
• Harriette Moore
• Harry T. Moore
• Queen Mother Moore
• William Lewis Moore
• Irene Morgan
• Bob Moses
• William Moyer
• Elijah Muhammad
• Diane Nash
• Charles Neblett
• Huey P. Newton
• Edgar Nixon
• Jack O'Dell
• James Orange
• Rosa Parks
• James Peck
• Charles Person
• Homer Plessy
• Adam Clayton Powell Jr.
• Fay Bellamy Powell
• Rodney N. Powell
• Al Raby
• Lincoln Ragsdale
• A. Philip Randolph
• George Raymond
• George Raymond Jr.
• Bernice Johnson Reagon
• Cordell Reagon
• James Reeb
• Frederick D. Reese
• Walter Reuther
• Gloria Richardson
• David Richmond
• Bernice Robinson
• Jo Ann Robinson
• Angela Russell
• Bayard Rustin
• Bernie Sanders
• Michael Schwerner
• Bobby Seale
• Cleveland Sellers
• Charles Sherrod
• Alexander D. Shimkin
• Fred Shuttlesworth
• Modjeska Monteith Simkins
• Glenn E. Smiley
• A. Maceo Smith
• Kelly Miller Smith
• Mary Louise Smith
• Maxine Smith
• Ruby Doris Smith-Robinson
• Charles Kenzie Steele
• Hank Thomas
• Dorothy Tillman
• A. P. Tureaud
• Hartman Turnbow
• Albert Turner
• C. T. Vivian
• Wyatt Tee Walker
• Hollis Watkins
• Walter Francis White
• Roy Wilkins
• Hosea Williams
• Kale Williams
• Robert F. Williams
• Andrew Young
• Whitney Young
• Sammy Younge Jr.
• Bob Zellner
• James Zwerg

By region

• Omaha, Nebraska
• South Carolina

Movement
songs

• "Ain't Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me 'Round"
• "If You Miss Me at the Back of the Bus"
• "*baya"
• "Keep Your Eyes on the Prize"
• "Oh, Freedom"
• "This Little Light of Mine"
• "We Shall Not Be Moved"
• "We Shall Overcome"
• "Woke Up This Morning (With My Mind Stayed On Freedom)"

Influences

• Nonviolence
  • Padayatra
• Sermon on the Mount
• Mahatma Gandhi
  • Ahimsa
  • Satyagraha
• The Kingdom of God Is Within You
• Frederick Dougl*
• W. E. B. Du Bois
• Mary McLeod Bethune

Related

• Jim Crow laws
• Lynching in the United States
• Plessy v. Ferguson
  • Separate but equal
• Buchanan v. Warley
• Hocutt v. Wilson
• Sweatt v. Painter
• Hernandez v. Texas
• Loving v. Virginia
• African-American women in the movement
• Jews in the civil rights movement
• Fifth Circuit Four
• 16th Street Baptist Church
• Kelly Ingram Park
• A.G. Gaston Motel
• Bethel Baptist Church
• Brown Chapel
• Dexter Avenue Baptist Church
• Holt Street Baptist Church
• Edmund Pettus Bridge
• March on Washington Movement
• African-American churches attacked
• List of lynching victims in the United States
• Freedom Schools
• Freedom songs
• Spring Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam
  • "Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence"
• Voter Education Project
• 1960s counterculture
• African American founding fathers of the United States
• Eyes on the Prize

Legacy

• In popular culture
• Birmingham Civil Rights Ins*ute
• Birmingham Civil Rights National Monument
• Civil Rights Memorial
• Civil Rights Movement Archive
• Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley National Monument
• Medgar and Myrlie Evers Home National Monument
• Freedom Rides Museum
• Freedom Riders National Monument
• King Center for Nonviolent Social Change
• Martin Luther King Jr. Day
• Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial
  • other King memorials
• Mississippi Civil Rights Museum
• National Civil Rights Museum
• National Voting Rights Museum
• St. Augustine Foot Soldiers Monument

Noted
historians

• Taylor Branch
• Clayborne Carson
• John Dittmer
• Michael Eric Dyson
• Chuck *er
• Adam Fairclough
• David Garrow
• David Halberstam
• Vincent Harding
• Steven F. Lawson
• Doug McAdam
• Diane McWhorter
• Charles M. Payne
• Thomas E. Ricks
• Timothy Tyson
• Akinyele Umoja
• Movement photographers

:Civil rights movement portalEthicsFood
and drink

• Agave syrup
• Chicken fillet roll
• Coconut burger
• Coconut milk
• Fruits
• Grains
  • cereals
  • legumes
• Gelatin subs*utes
  • Agar
  • Carrageenan
  • Gulaman
  • Konjac jelly
  • Microbial cellulose
• Jambon
• Meat alternative
  • List of meat subs*utes
• Miso
• Mochi
• Mock duck
• Nutritional yeast
• Plant cream
• Plant milk
• Quinoa
• Quorn
• Seitan
• Soy yogurt
• Tempeh
• Tofu
• Tofurkey
• Cheese
• Vegepet
• Vegetables
• Hot dog
• Vegetarian mark
• Sausage
• Sausage roll
• Beer
• Wine
• Veggie burger

Groups
and eventsCompanies

• List of vegetarian and vegan companies

Books,
reports,
journals

• On Abstinence from Eating Animals (3rd century)
• An Essay on Abstinence from Animal Food, as a Moral Duty (1802)
• Vegetable Cookery (1812)
• A Vindication of Natural Diet (1813)
• Reasons for not Eating Animal Food (1814)
• Moral Inquiries on the Situation of Man and of Brutes (1824)
• Nature's Own Book (1835)
• Fruits and Farinacea (1845)
• The Pleasure Boat (1845)
• The Ethics of Diet (1883)
• What is Vegetarianism? (1886)
• Shelley's Vegetarianism (1891)
• Behind the Scenes in Slaughter-Houses (1892)
• Why I Am a Vegetarian (1895)
• Figs or Pigs? (1896)
• Thirty-nine Reasons Why I Am a Vegetarian (1903)
• The Meat Fetish (1904)
• The New Ethics (1907)
• A Fleshless Diet (1910)
• The Benefits of Vegetarianism (1927)
• Living the Good Life (1954)
• Ten Talents (1968)
• Diet for a Small Planet (1971)
• The Vegetarian Epicure (1972)
• Moosewood Collective Cookbooks (1973)
• The Farm Vegetarian Cookbook (1975)
• Laurel's Kitchen (1976)
• Moosewood Cookbook (1977)
• Fit for Life (1985)
• Diet for a New America (1987)
• The Sexual Politics of Meat (1990)
• Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone (1997)
• The China Study (2005)
• Skinny * (2005)
• Livestock's Long Shadow (2006)
• The Bloodless Revolution (2006)
• Eating Animals (2009)
• Why We Love Dogs, Eat Pigs, and Wear Cows (2009)
• The Vegan Studies Project (2015)
• Animal (De)liberation (2016)
• The End of Animal Farming (2018)
• Vegetable Kingdom (2020)
• Making a Stand for Animals (2022)
• Meat Atlas (annual)

Films and shows

• The Animals Film (1981)
• Diet for a New America (film) (1991)
• A Cow at My Table (1998)
• Meet Your Meat (2002)
• Post Punk Kitchen (2003–2005)
• Peaceable Kingdom (2004)
• Earthlings (2005)
• A Sacred Duty (2007)
• Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead (2010)
• Planeat (2010)
• Forks Over Knives (2011)
• Vegucated (2011)
• Live and Let Live (2013)
• Cowspiracy (2014)
• PlantPure Nation (2015)
• What the Health (2017)
• Carnage (2017)
• Dominion (2018)
• Eating You Alive (2018)
• The Game Changers (2018)
• You Are What You Eat: A Twin Experiment (2024)

Magazines

• Naked Food
• Satya
• Vegetarian Times
• VegNews
• The Animals' Agenda

Academics,
authors,
physiciansChefs and
cookbook authors

• Nava Atlas
• Mayim Bialik
• Gypsy Boots
• BOSH!
• Edward Espe Brown
• Tabitha Brown (actress)
• Suzy Amis Cameron
• Hannah Che
• Pinky Cole
• Chloe Coscarelli
• Yamuna Devi
• Sue Donaldson
• Crescent Dragonwagon
• Rose Elliot
• Rip Esselstyn
• Carol Lee Flinders
• Dick Gregory
• Richa Hingle
• Madhur Jaffrey
• Mollie Katzen
• Frances Moore Lappé
• Deborah Madison
• Linda McCartney
• Mary McCartney
• Tracye McQuirter
• Joanne Lee Molinaro
• Moosewood Collective
• Isa Chandra Moskowitz
• Bawa Muhaiyaddeen
• Gaz Oakley
• Colleen Patrick-Goudreau
• Mathew Pritchard
• Satchidananda Saraswati
• Derek Sarno
• Miyoko Schinner
• Alicia Silverstone
• Bryant Terry
• Anna Thomas
• Haile Thomas
• Lauren Toyota
• Jeeca Uy
• Umberto Veronesi
• Nisha Vora
• Alan Wakeman

Restaurants

• Ben & Esther's Vegan Jewish Deli
• Cinnaholic
• Crossroads Kitchen
• Greens Restaurant
• Little Pine (restaurant)
• *ty Vegan
• Souley Vegan
• Veggie Grill

Related

• Vegetarian and vegan symbolism
• List of vegan media
• Juice fasting
• Vegetarian and vegan dog diet
• Vegaphobia
• Plant-based diet
• Sustainable diet
  • Low-carbon
  • Planetary health
• Flexitarianism
  • Pescetarianism
  • Pollotarianism