Defining Moments in Black History by Dick Gregory

Here’s a short list of the people featured: Rosa Parks, WEB DuBois, Booker T. All of Gregory’s ‘conspiracy theories’ are plausible, even the one on why he believes Tiger pulled up lame and can’t seem to play golf anymore because of back injuries. Only once did Gregory say he couldn’t prove his comments on someone. (Any man who writes a book after he’s dead has to be doing it because he wants the truth to be known, is my theory). But, when you consider he actually knew these people personally, what he shares can’t be a theory, but an actual truth. In some cases it’s easy to call Gregory a conspiracy theorist when he writes certain things about these people. That’s how he shares stuff you didn’t already know. What makes this book so great is that Dick Gregory had personal relationships with many of the people listed in this book.

Gregory presents to some, and introduces to others, many of the familiar black history icons from the fields of entertainment, science, politics, sports, business, education, literature, and civil rights, along with a few people you should know but don’t.Īs much as you think you may already know the ones you know, Gregory shares something about them you never heard before. In this book, Dick Gregory tells you something you should know about dozens of great black people, past and present, in a series of essays that stand on their own but run seamlessly together when read one after the other. For generations, there’s been attempts to teach black history in schools and through community programs to help spread this knowledge, but there is still a huge void of black history knowledge. That’s probably true for older black folks, too. If there was ever a book that you can judge by its cover, this is the one.Ī common cry among black folks is that our young folks act the way they do because they don’t know their history. That should be the first and most important clue that ‘Defining Moments in Black History: Reading Between the Lies’ is a book folks don’t want you to know about.

None of the usual literary experts have reviewed this book.

I tried to do that for Dick Gregory’s new book and came up empty. When I’m preparing to review a book, I often scan reviews by the professionals expecting to discover details or backstory I missed. And, just like his death was an afterthought for most, his new book isn’t getting much attention either. Here’s a man pronounced dead on August 19 but finds a way to release a new book on September 17.

Defining Moments in Black History by Dick Gregory