Thomas Dilward (c. 1817 – July 9, 1887) was an entertainer who appeared in blackface minstrel shows from 1853 until the early 1880s under the name Japanese Tommy.

[1] However, Nicoline van der Sijs provides evidence of the phrase gaining popularity in the US via multiple channels, and the likely primary origin is as a variation on the Dutch word "hunk" used in children's games meaning "home base".

[a][1][5][6] He first performed with George Christy in 1853, possibly as a response to General Tom Thumb, a dwarf appearing in productions staged by P. T. Barnum.

Between 1866 and 1873 he had a successful career in Britain initially with Sam Hague's Slave Troupe,[7] then with other people and companies, including George Christy's Minstrels.

Most of these shows featured white people using "blackface" to imitate African-Americans and consisted of comic skits, dancing, and music, but for most of the time relied on humor was at the expense of African Americans.

Frederick Douglass, who was a contemporary social reformer, said of these minstrel shows that they comprised "filthy scum of white society, who have stolen from us a complexion denied to them by nature, in which to make money and pander to the corrupt taste of their fellow citizens."(Kuntz).

The reasons for the name are unknown but it is rumored that it was created to conceal his identity as an African-American because audiences did not want to pay to see a black person perform.

Dilward was one of the only two known African-Americans to have performed with white minstrel companies before the American Civil War (The other being Henry "Juba" Lane).

Even though Dilward faced extreme inequality and discrimination, he made the best of his situation and embraced his size and race in order to benefit himself financially.

In the Lewiston Evening Journal of 1871 there is an advertisement for the Morris Brothers minstrel show, which features him and his "enormous salary" of $200 per week in gold.

He was so well known that others, like a Frenchman named Millet cashed in on his fame, while he was abroad[18][19] His career in Britain and its then-colonies of Australia and New Zealand gave him the opportunity to appear in less racist societies, although they were not completely free of prejudice.