To be released digitally for the first time
First One Digital Publishing revives best-selling memoir for Black History Month
Beverly Hills, CA (BlackNews.com) — On February 11, 2011, First One Publishing will release the groundbreaking and thought provoking Nigger: An Autobiography by Dick Gregory, written by renowned comedian and social activist, Dick Gregory in ebook format. The ebook will be available for purchase across all digital readers and distributor platforms including iTunes, Amazon and Sony as well as on the publisher’s website at www.FirstOnePublishing.com.
There will be a new introduction from Dick Gregory as well as several videos spanning his relationship with Marvin Gaye, Michael Jackson, Bob Marley, John Lennon and others, to his views on health and nutrition. “A visionary like Dick Gregory only comes around once in a lifetime and it is an honor to bring his best-selling memoir to a whole new digital generation,” said First One President, Karen Hunter. “We are grateful that Mr. Gregory chose First One to be the home for this and future projects.”
Dick Gregory was one of the first activists to use comedy as a tool to wake people up to the social and political ills that plague our society. The book was originally released in 1962 during the Civil Rights Movement with critical acclaim and sold over one million copies. “I am happy to be participating in the 22nd, 23rd and 24th Centuries. In 1962 when Nigger was first published, ebooks did not exist. It is very important that we know that 50 percent of the people who are alive today in America were not alive when King was assassinated. The fact that the mainstream press only talks about civil rights issues during Black History Month gives even more reason why people are hungry for this kind of information. I am excited to see Nigger elevated to this level of publishing and that it is relevant today because of the factual history that it contains. It is about the truth and an era when the civil rights movement happened and I was an eye witness to this part of history,” states Dick Gregory.
Born in 1932, Dick Gregory details his first hand experiences of the thick color line in the South where he grew up. He had the choice to defeat or be defeated and in every situation he chose to defeat. From getting kicked in the mouth by a white man who didn’t want “no color boy shining his shoes” to being teased in school and chastised for his skin color, Dick Gregory always managed to turn a negative to a positive. To ease the pain Dick Gregory would make jokes about himself and his family before giving anyone else the satisfaction, before long he was getting paid to stand on stages across America and make people laugh. Dick Gregory is still one of the most celebrated African American activists in the country.
For further information or to request a digital review copy in advance, please contact Megan@A-ListCommunications.com.
ABOUT DICK GREGORY:
Dick Gregory, born October 12, 1932 in St. Louis, MO. is an African-American comedian, civil rights activist, and spokesman for health issues, who became nationally recognized in the 1960s for a biting brand of comedy that attacked racial prejudice. By addressing his hard-hitting satire to white audiences, he gave a comedic voice to the rising Civil Rights Movement. In his numerous television, nightclub, and concert comedy routines, he targeted poverty, segregation, and racial discrimination. Active in the Civil Rights Movement, he participated in numerous demonstrations including marching alongside Dr. King, and was arrested for civil disobedience several times; in 1963 he was jailed in Birmingham, Alabama. His activism spurred him to run for mayor of Chicago in 1966 and for President of the United States in 1968. In the early 1970s, Gregory abandoned comedy to focus on his political interests, which widened from race relations to include such issues as violence, world hunger, capital punishment, drug abuse, and poor health care. He generated particular attention for his many hunger fasts. At this time he became a vegetarian, a marathon runner, and an expert on nutrition. He soon began a successful business venture with his nutritional product, the “Bahamian Diet,” around which he built Dick Gregory Health Enterprises, Inc. and targeted the lower life expectancy of black Americans, which he attributed to poor nutrition and drug and alcohol abuse. Gregory wrote many books, including Nigger: An Autobiography (1964) and No More Lies: The Myth and the Reality of American History (1971). He made a brief return to the comedy circuit in the mid-1990s.
ABOUT FIRST ONE PUBLISHING:
First One Publishing is a new brand of Publishing Company focused on Publishing literary content exclusively over all digital ereader formats and devices. Owned by MGMT One, a premier full service business advisory firm and led by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, Karen Hunter and co-author of numerous New York Times bestsellers, First One Publishing’s goal is to be the first African-American owned business to lead the charge in driving the e-book and digital content space across all digital formats. As a new business and publishing venture, First One will debut its complete library with full purchase and download capabilities on 1/11/11 and is currently acquiring exclusive digital publishing and e-book distribution rights with a rainbow of authors, who not only tell great stories, but who are great stories.
