For decades, Bobby “Al Jolson” Berger performed in blackface as Al Jolson, the 1920s vaudeville star. Now, Berger is running for Maryland’s House of Delegates — not in blackface but officially as Bobby Al Jolson Berger.
Berger, 78, is one of five Republican candidates running in the primary for three seats in Maryland’s District 6 east of Baltimore. Facing off against incumbents Robin L. Grammer Jr., Bob Long and Ric Metzgar, Berger is running for office for the first time.
Berger performed more than 1,000 shows in blackface before retiring his act in 2015. While traveling the country as a performer, he also served as a Baltimore police officer — but controversy over his performances prompted clashes with the police department, which eventually forced him to retire from the force.
In an interview with Capital News Service, Berger said he is proud of his past performances in blackface and hopes they will have a positive impact on his election. Berger said his Al Jolson act was all about entertainment, not racism.
“Racist people that were race hustling perceived my performances in a bad light,” Berger said. “Nice people perceived them in a good light.”
Fans described Berger as the “greatest entertainer of all time” and said his performances “have nothing to do with Black people,” according to a 2015 Washington Post story.
In 1997, he opened his own restaurant just outside Baltimore, Bobby B’s Palace, where he continued to perform.
Berger’s last performance in blackface was more than 11 years ago, but Metzgar said he is disappointed in Berger for advertising the Jolson act as part of his campaign.
“We are living in a time when antisemitism is on the rise and racism is out of control,” Metzgar said. “There is no place for this.”
While blackface was accepted during Jolson’s peak, many considered it offensive by the time Berger performed, and his candidacy is renewing conversation over the history of blackface performances.
Organizations like the NAACP view blackface as racist.
Roland Patterson Jr., president of NAACP Baltimore County, said Jolson may have not personally harmed people, but his performances contributed to racist stereotypes that affected millions.
Blackface originated in minstrel shows of the mid-19th century. White performers, like Jolson, darkened their skin with paint and mocked enslaved Africans, portraying them as lazy and ignorant, according to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture.
Patterson said Berger’s history with blackface makes him unfit for office.
“We are one nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all,” Patterson said. “Bobby Berger doesn’t represent that, and he ought to therefore not be allowed to serve. I do think that he’ll be allowed to serve if he wins, but it is a blight on the record of America.”
Similar controversies have affected other candidates, including former Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam. While in office in 2019, a photo from his medical school yearbook resurfaced showing a person in blackface and another in a Ku Klux Klan robe.
“Earlier today, a website published a photograph of me from my 1984 medical school yearbook in a costume that is clearly racist and offensive,” Northam said in a statement at the time. “I am deeply sorry for the decision I made to appear as I did in this photo and for the hurt that decision caused then and now.”
Before long, “every national and state Democrat of note called on him to step down,” said Margaret Edds, author of “What the Eyes Can’t See: Ralph Northam, Black Resolve, and a Racial Reckoning in Virginia.” “That reflected, I think, a broad consensus that blackface represents a shameful era of ridicule of Black people through minstrel shows.”
Northam survived the controversy, though, and dedicated the rest of his term to addressing racial inequality. That helped him reclaim his reputation, according to Edds.
Apart from the controversy over his adopted name, Berger said he wants to focus on neighborhood issues and crime.
“District 6 needs help,” he said in response to a Capital News Service candidate questionnaire. “Our neighbors are being squeezed with high utility costs, roads need much work, our neighborhoods need to be cleaned up and our local residents have a right to shop without worry of safety. District 6 needs help, and I’m willing to fight for it.”
Asked in that questionnaire to name a public leader he admired, Berger replied: “President Donald J. Trump. He is honest and forthright.”