Did Sammy Davis Jr march with Martin Luther King?

Sammy Davis Jr. was a prominent African American entertainer who lent his fame and talents to several events in support of Martin Luther King and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC).

Sammy Davis Jr was a member of the acclaimed “Rat Pack” and was known for his singing, dancing, acting, and producing skills. Davis performed at the King-headlined “Freedom Rally” in Los Angeles on 18 June 1961 and at the March on Montgomery in 1965.

In a 1961 letter to Sammy Davis Jr, King thanked the entertainer for his support and spoke of the changing role of black artists in the civil rights movement: “Not very long ago, it was customary for Negro artists to hold themselves aloof from the struggle for equality…. Today, greats like Harry Belafonte, Sidney Poitier, Mahalia Jackson, and yourself, of course, are not content to merely identify with the struggle. They actively participate in it, as artists and as citizens, adding the weight of their enormous prestige and thus helping to move the struggle forward”.

Samuel George Davis Jr was born on December 8, 1925, in Harlem, New York, the United States of America. In 1953, Sammy Davis Jr was offered his own television show on ABC, Three for the Road—with the Will Mastin Trio.