Man Alive

Dick Gregory is Alive and Well (1970x11)

Air date: Apr 15, 1970

Dick Gregory is America's best-known black comedian. He is also a civil rights campaigner who uses satire to put across views no less militant than those of any demonstrator. He's also a brave man. Asked to lecture to a racially mixed audience at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, he knew the risks - and was honest enough to confess his fears. But he went ahead, and didn't so much lecture as harangue his audience, devoting his address to what he calls 'the moral pollution of the country,' jibing at American history texts, television commercials, and the attitudes of white liberals who support the black cause The programme tonight looks at Gregory's life in Chicago, his involvement in satire and civil rights, but devotes most of its time to his address in Alabama.