Brian Lear on WNYC. Here's a clip of a comedian on TV in 1961.

See if you recognize him.

And we have a lot of racial prejudice up north,

but we're so clever with it.

Take my hometown Chicago. I mean you can't

see it just going in there. When the Negroes in Chicago move into one large area

and it looked like we might control the votes, they don't say anything to us.

They have a slum clearance.

You do the same thing on the West Coast, but you call it freeways.

So that was the trailblazing Dick Gregory from his first TV appearance way back in

1961 on ABC's Walk in My Shoes.

And to end the show today,

and for Black History Month,

we're going to be talking about the history of black comedy

as a tool for activism.

Dick Gregory's career and continuing influence

will guide us as we do this. The theme of

Black History Month in the US this year is African Americans and the Arts and comedy is

definitely an art. And from pioneers like Dick Gregory and Moms Mabley who tackled racial

inequality during the civil rights movement to contemporary trailblazers who

continue to push boundaries and spark crucial dialogues on

race in the 21st century, comedy has served as a platform for black performers to share their

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