Richard Claxton Gregory was born in St. Louis, the son of Lucille, a housemaid, and Presley Gregory. He excelled at running and earned a track scholarship to Southern Illinois University (SIU), where he set school records as a half-miler and miler.
Working as a comedian, Gregory 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?”
Gregory was an activist campaigning for, among others, an end to apartheid, civil rights, animal rights, vegetarianism, feminism, and Native American rights. He ran for various offices, including Mayor of Chicago, and President of the United States. He engaged in several hunger strikes, including one in Teheran, Iran, while hoping to negotiate the release of the American embassy hostages.
He died of heart failure in 2017.
His first census was the 1940 census for St Louis, Missouri.
Click on the census for a larger view.
Sources
- Wikipedia.org
- Ancestry.com
- Onthisday.com
- Picryl.com
- Youtube.com
Famous People and Their First Census 