Top 5 Quotes & Sayings by Bert Williams

Explore popular quotes and sayings by an American entertainer Bert Williams.
Last updated on December 22, 2024.
Bert Williams

Bert Williams was a Bahamian-born American entertainer, one of the pre-eminent entertainers of the Vaudeville era and one of the most popular comedians for all audiences of his time. He is credited as being the first Black man to have the leading role in a film: Darktown Jubilee in 1914.

I named all my children after flowers. There's Lillie and Rose and my son, Artificial.
I have never been able to discover anything disgraceful in being a colored man. But I have often found it inconvenient - in America.
The man with the real sense of humor is the man who can put himself in the spectator's place and laugh at his own misfortune. — © Bert Williams
The man with the real sense of humor is the man who can put himself in the spectator's place and laugh at his own misfortune.
A black face, run-down shoes and elbow-out make-up give me a place to hide. The real Bert Williams is crouched deep down inside the coon who sings the songs and tells the stories.
People sometimes ask me if I would not give anything to be white, I answer, in the words of the song, most emphatically, 'No.' How do I know what I might be if I were a white man? I might be a sand-hog, burrowing away and losing my health for $8 a day. I might be a street-car conductor at $12 or $15 a week. There is many a white man less fortunate and less well equipped than I am. In fact, I have never been able to discover that there was anything disgraceful in being a colored man. But I have often found it inconvenient - in America.
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