Dick Gregory Exposed the 6 Worst Racist Stars Who Couldn't Stand the Civil Rights Movement

For six decades Dick Gregory worked inside the American entertainment industry that had made him the first Black comedian to perform for mainstream white audiences at Chicago's Playboy Club in January 1961, the definitive comedic voice of the American civil rights movement, and one of the most sustained activist witnesses in the history of Black American entertainment. From his October 12, 1932 birth in St. Louis Missouri, through his 1961 Playboy Club breakthrough, through his 1964 autobiography written with Robert Lipsyte, through his 1967 Chicago mayoral campaign and his 1968 Freedom and Peace Party presidential campaign, through his hunger strikes and dozens of civil rights arrests, and into his August 19, 2017 death at age 84 in Washington D.C., Gregory stood at the center of the American civil rights movement as one of the few Black entertainers who had turned his mainstream commercial platform into a political weapon. His 1964 autobiography, his 2000 memoir Callus on My Soul, and his 2017 book Defining Moments in Black History documented the specific stars whose political activism revealed their opposition to the civil rights movement his career had helped make culturally central. This video traces the six stars Gregory encountered: from Ginger Rogers's Motion Picture Alliance membership, through Doris Day's Republican conservative activism, through James Stewart's Goldwater and Reagan endorsements, through Barbara Stanwyck's Motion Picture Alliance founding membership, through Robert Taylor's October 22, 1947 HUAC friendly witness testimony that named Howard Da Silva and Karen Morley, and into Ronald Reagan's SAG presidency, October 23, 1947 HUAC testimony, FBI informant activity as designated T-10, and August 3, 1980 Neshoba County Fair speech in Philadelphia Mississippi. What's covered in this video: Ginger Rogers's ten musical collaborations with Fred Astaire from 1933 through 1939, her 1940 Best Actress Oscar for Kitty Foyle, her Motion Picture Alliance membership, and her mother Lela Rogers's October 1947 HUAC friendly witness testimony four days after Ronald Reagan. Doris Day's Pillow Talk in 1959, Send Me No Flowers in 1964, and That Touch of Mink in 1962, her 650 recorded singles, her hosting of The Doris Day Show on CBS from 1968 through 1973, her Republican political activism, and her May 2019 death at age 97. James Stewart's 1940 Best Actor Oscar for The Philadelphia Story, his combat service as a B-24 pilot during World War II that earned him Brigadier General rank in the United States Air Force Reserve, his endorsement of Barry Goldwater's 1964 presidential campaign, his support for Ronald Reagan's 1966 gubernatorial and 1980 presidential campaigns, and his 1985 promotion to Major General by President Reagan. Barbara Stanwyck's four Best Actress Academy Award nominations for Stella Dallas in 1937, Ball of Fire in 1941, Double Indemnity in 1944, and Sorry Wrong Number in 1948, her 1982 Honorary Academy Award, her February 1944 founding membership in the Motion Picture Alliance alongside Walt Disney, John Wayne, and Ward Bond, and her marriage to Robert Taylor from 1939 through 1952. Robert Taylor's 24-year MGM contract that made him the studio's longest continuously contracted male star, his signature performances in Waterloo Bridge in 1940 and Quo Vadis in 1951, his October 22, 1947 HUAC friendly witness testimony that named Howard Da Silva and Karen Morley, his Motion Picture Alliance presidency following John Wayne's term, and his June 1969 death at age 57 with Ronald Reagan delivering the eulogy. Ronald Reagan's 27-year film career across over 50 productions, his seven-term Screen Actors Guild presidency from 1947 through 1952 and 1959 through 1960, his October 23, 1947 HUAC friendly witness testimony, his FBI informant designation as T-10, his 1967 through 1975 California governorship, his opposition to the 1968 Fair Housing Act, his August 3, 1980 opening presidential campaign speech at the Neshoba County Fair in Philadelphia Mississippi where James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner had been murdered by the Ku Klux Klan on June 21, 1964, his 40th presidency from 1981 through 1989, and his June 2004 death at age 93. Mentioned in this video: Dick Gregory, Ginger Rogers, Lela Rogers, Doris Day, James Stewart, Barbara Stanwyck, Robert Taylor, Ronald Reagan, Fred Astaire, Walt Disney, John Wayne, Ward Bond, Adolphe Menjou, Gary Cooper, Howard Da Silva, Karen Morley, Paul Robeson, Canada Lee, Barry Goldwater, James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, Michael Schwerner, Robert Lipsyte, Motion Picture Alliance, HUAC, FBI, Screen Actors Guild, MGM, Warner Bros, RKO, Kitty Foyle, Pillow Talk, The Philadelphia Story, It's a Wonderful Life, Rear Window, Vertigo, Double Indemnity, Waterloo Bridge, Quo Vadis, Callus on My Soul, Fair Housing Act, Freedom Summer, Ku Klux Klan, Neshoba County Fair, Chicago Playboy Club, Old Hollywood Golden Age. #DickGregory #CivilRights #GoldenAgeHollywood