The autobiography of comedian and social activist Dick Gregory, co-authored with Robert Lipsyte, nigger was originally published in September 1964 by E. P. Dutton, and has since 1965 been reprinted numerous times in an edition available through Pocket Books, altogether selling more than one million copies to date.

[2] Gregory continued his life story in two subsequent books, Up From Nigger and Callus On My Soul.

[4]The book contains photographs of Gregory performing at the Village Gate; he and his brother (1942); his mother, Lucille; Gregory as a drummer at Southern Illinois University (1953); as an SIU sprinter and Outstanding Athlete of the Year (1953); with coach Leland Lingle (1954); with Sammy Davis Jr. at Roberts Show Club, Chicago (1959); in a jail cell in Chicago; performing at the Hungry i, San Francisco (1963, shortly before the murder of Medgar Evers); at a voter registration rally, Greenwood, Mississippi (April 1963), among others.

[5]The original book cover stylizes the main title, "nigger", in all lower case, cursive writing.

The New York Times wrote, in its review, Powerful and ugly and beautiful...a moving story of a man who deeply wants a world without malice and hate and is doing something about it.