“‘I’ve Always Been a Jew’: Religion, Race, and the Problem of Sammy Davis Jr.”

A special talk by Dr. Rebecca Davis, Miller Family Early Career Professor of History, touching on her new book Public Confessions: The Religious Conversions That Changed American Politics (University of North Carolina Press) and the conversion of Sammy Davis Jr. to Judaism. 

Sammy Davis Jr. was one of the greatest entertainers of the twentieth century, famous for his high-energy one-man shows and his routines as the only Black member of the Rat Pack. His conversion to Judaism in 1960 made him the butt of jokes about his multiple and seemingly incongruous identities. Those punchlines revealed deep-seated biases about religious and racial credibility, biases that reverberated in American politics and throughout the rest of Davis’s life.

This event is free and open to the public. Sponsored by the University of Delaware Jewish Studies Program.