# Richard Pryor’s daughter Elizabeth is a scholar of the N-word

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/fresh-air-214340/richard-pryor-s-daughter-elizabeth-is-a-scholar-of-the-n-word
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/fresh-air-214340/richard-pryor-s-daughter-elizabeth-is-a-scholar-of-the-n-word.md
Podcast: [Fresh Air](https://stenobird.com/podcast/fresh-air-214340)
Published: 2026-06-01T17:42:40+00:00
Episode link: https://www.npr.org/2026/06/01/nx-s1-5843109/richard-pryors-daughter-elizabeth-is-a-scholar-of-the-n-word
Audio file: https://prfx.byspotify.com/e/play.podtrac.com/npr-381444908/npr.simplecastaudio.com/49850946-31c1-4953-8129-0d718420c400/episodes/c5f0c81d-b1d8-4d5f-b6f2-5a7893e4e5e0/audio/128/default.mp3?awCollectionId=49850946-31c1-4953-8129-0d718420c400&awEpisodeId=c5f0c81d-b1d8-4d5f-b6f2-5a7893e4e5e0&feed=jBsBZBHh&t=podcast&e=nx-s1-5843109&p=381444908&d=2624&size=41990357
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Duration seconds: 2624

## Resource

Historian Elizabeth Stordeur Pryor has spent her career tracing the racial slur, the N-word, through slavery, Jim Crow, the civil rights movement, and hip hop. But what she didn't tell most of her students, even some of her colleagues, was that her father was the comedian who put the word at the center of American comedy – Richard Pryor. "I was a scholar of the N-word — and so was he,” she tells Tonya Mosley. Her new book, ‘Something We Said: Richard Pryor, a Notorious Word, and Me,’ is part memoir, part history of a word her father, late in his career, decided to never use again. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences. NPR Privacy Policy

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