Bertram L. Charles was born in poverty on April 13, 1937, in St. Kitts. As a boy he toiled with his mother in the sugarcane and cotton fields at Bourkes Estate plantation. By the time he was a teenager, he knew that a life of Labouring on the plantation was not his destiny. His deep and abiding faith in God empowered him to make the right choices to overcome the trials and tribulations of life. He left St. Kitts for Harlem in New York City in 1959. He worked in the garment district, went to night high school, and jumped into the civil rights movement. He was drafted into the United States Army and sent to the Deep South where he experienced blatant racism that persuaded him to become a lawyer. After service at Fort Dix, Fort Chaffee, Fort Riley, and Germany, he headed straight back to New York. He finished night high school, college, and law school. After graduating in 1971, he went to work for the US Department of Labour, Washington, DC; Government of the US Virgin Islands; Legal Services of the Virgin Islands; and the private practice of law. As a social engineer, he never won an election, but he was influential in liberalizing the politics and policies of both St. Kitts and St. Croix. He was St. Kitts and Nevis ambassador to Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan. After defeating prostate cancer in 1997, he was called to the ministry. The crowning event of his life occurred when he was ordained a minister of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church.