Dancing Down the Barricades: Sammy Davis Jr. and the Long Civil Rights Era

Yale University historian Jacobson (Roots Too; The Historian’s Eye) offers an in-depth examination of the life of the Black entertainer Sammy Davis Jr. (1925–90) against the backdrop of racial politics, the Hollywood film industry, and the fight for civil rights. Davis’s remarkable career encompassed everything from on-stage vaudeville performances and Vegas shows to network TV; he was part of the Rat Pack in the late 1950s and 1960s and a stalwart civil rights activist who worked alongside Martin Luther King Jr. Some viewed him as a progressive, while others (including a portion of the Black public) saw him as a man who sought approval in white circles and sold out for money and fame. Narrator Jonathan Yen offers an engaging narration of Jacobson’s incisive biography, capturing the story’s nuances with clarity and conviction. His delivery is well-paced, allowing the complexity of Davis’s life to resonate with listeners.