Bert Williams

Bert Williams (born November 12, 1874, Nassau, Bahamas—died March 4, 1922, New York City) was a Bahamian-born American comedian and singer who portrayed the slow-witted, shuffling Black man that was then a standard, if racist, role in vaudeville. Williams and his family moved from the Bahamas to the United States when he was ten. They made their way to California and worked in the mining and lumber camps of the West. In 1895 his partnership...