While telling his usual jokes to a sold-out crowd, he paused, stared at the audience for a moment and blurted out,

what the fuck am I doing here?

And then he was gone.

I'm Len, and this is two-minuteute Black History, What You Didn't Learn in School.

In 1967, the young comedian Richard Pryor had one of the hottest shows on the Las Vegas Strip.

While performing at The Aladdin one night, his audience was treated to a show they'd never forget.

Pryor was performing in front of a sold-out crowd

at the Aladdin Hotel,

but his heart was no longer in the G-rated jokes

that club owners wanted him to tell the white audiences.

Finally, sick of doing the same tired material,

his boredom bubbled over.

What the f*** am I doing here?

Pryor exclaimed.

He left the stage and was immediately fired.

Unable to find gigs where he could perform the edgy,

more political material he loved,

Richard Pryor moved to Berkeley, California in 1969.

At Berkeley, Pryor immersed himself in the counterculture movement

and became friends with Black Panther's Eldris Cleaver and Huey Newton.

Here, Pryor decided to perform comedy that truly reflected the Black experience. He would never compromise his by the expectations of whiteness.

Prior became his best self when he put his blackness first. Like him, we must find our ways to keep our own blackness front and

...