PEORIA, Ill. – Dr. Elizabeth Pryor, daughter of Peoria’s own Richard Pryor, will be speaking about her famous father, his legacy, and a book she’s written about him at the Peoria Riverfront Museum Tuesday evening.
Dr. Pryor tells WMBD’s “Greg and Dan Show” that when she was younger, she tried to distance herself from her dad’s public persona.
“But, as I became a scholar of the N-Word, which is what happened, there was really nothing that I could read about it that didn’t reference him, because he made the world reconcile their own racism by using that word on stage…in a very powerful way,” Pryor says.
Dr. Pryor says her journey to learning more about her famous father’s impact on the world began years ago when one of her History students referenced a Richard Pryor line, which included the N-word, from the movie Blazing Saddles.
The student had no idea that Richard Pyror was her professor’s famous dad. But, it began the process for Dr. Pryor to explore more about her father’s story that began in Peoria, Illinois.
Pryor is a History professor at Smith College, a liberal arts women’s college in Northampton, Massachusetts, and has written Something We Said: Richard Pryor, a Notorious, and Me.
The last time she was in Peoria was in 1978. She says she expects to hear plenty of stories about her father at Tuesday’s book signing at Peoria Riverfront Museum.
The event begins at 5:30 p.m. Copies of Dr. Pryor’s book will be available.
