Samuel George Davis Jr. (December 8, 1925 â May 16, 1990) was an American singer, dancer, actor, comedian, film producer and television director.
At age three, Davis began his career in vaudeville with his father Sammy Davis Sr. and the Will Mastin Trio, which toured nationally, and his film career began in 1933. After military service, Davis returned to the trio and became an overnight sensation following a nightclub performance at Ciro’s (in West Hollywood) after the 1951 Academy Awards. With the trio, he became a recording artist. In 1954, at the age of 29, he lost his left eye in a car accident. Several years later, he converted to Judaism, finding commonalities between the oppression experienced by African-American and Jewish communities.
In 1944, during World War II, Davis was drafted into the U.S. Army at age 18. He was frequently abused by white soldiers from the South and later recounted: “I must have had a knockdown, drag-out fight every two days.” His nose was broken numerous times and permanently flattened. At one point he was offered a beer laced with urine.
He was reassigned to the Army’s Special Services branch, which put on performances for troops. At one show he found himself performing in front of soldiers who had previously racially abused him. Davis, who earned the American Campaign Medal and World War II Victory Medal, was discharged in 1945 with the rank of private. He later said, “My talent was the weapon, the power, the way for me to fight. It was the one way I might hope to affect a man’s thinking.
MILITARY HISTORY SOCIETY OF ROCHESTER
ROCHESTERMILITARY.COM
