Dilverd is one of only two known African-Americans to have performed with white minstrel companies before the American Civil War (the other being William Henry Lane). Dilverd's size, between 23 and 36 inches in height, made him a "curious attraction" and allowed him to take to the stage with whites at a time when almost no black men did; in addition, his stage name may have been intended to hide his ethnic background. He was famous for his skills at singing, dancing, and playing the violin. He has also been credited in John Russell Bartlett's 1877 "Dictionary of Americanisms" with having invented the word hunky-dory, meaning "everything is all right".