To Sammy Davis, Jr.
Author: King, Martin Luther, Jr.
Date: March 28, 1961
Location: Atlanta, Ga.?
Genre: Letter
Topic: Martin Luther King, Jr. - Political and Social Views
Details
King thanks Davis for organizing the successful Carnegie Hall “Tribute to Martin Luther King, Jr.,” and praises the work of musical artists like Davis, Harry Belafonte, Sidney Poitier, and Mahalia Jackson, who use their “enormous prestige” to “move the struggle forward.”1 Davis’s tribute, which took place on 27 January, netted $22,577.47 for SCLC.2
Mr. Sammy Davis, Jr.
THE SANDS
Las Vegas, Nevada
Dear Sammy:
The endless problems generated by our great FREEDOM MOVEMENT can only be compared to a river that never stops flowing. Fortunately, its progress too is like a river. Slowly—but surely and relentlessly—the Movement keeps pressing insistently forward, step by step. One such step, in my opinion, was the historic affair at Carnegie Hall on February 27, which you personally initiated and organized, then crowned with your astonishing artistry.
Not very long ago, it was customary for Negro artists to hold themselves aloof from the struggle for equality, in the belief that the example of their personal success was in itself a contribution in that it helped to disprove the myth of Negro inferiority—which indeed it did.
Today, however, our great Negro artists feel that this is an essentially defensive position which does not meet the needs of our time when the Negro people as a whole are vigorously striding towards freedom. Today greats like Harry Belafonte, Sidney Poitier, Mahalia Jackson and yourself, of course, are not content to merely identify with the struggle. The actively participate in it, as artists and as citizens, adding the weight of their enormous prestige and thus helping to move the struggle forward.3
Who can measure the impact, the inspirational effect, upon the millions of Negroes who have learned through thousands of grapevies that one of their idols, Sammy Davis, Jr., was responsible for rallying some of the greatest stars of Hollywood to come forward and publicly support the great cause of Negro freedom? On campuses and in communities throughout the south they are still talking about it and will continue to, I assure you, for many a long month to come.
It is primarily in behalf of these people—the embattled students and the many other thousands of southern freedom fighters, including my colleagues, the four ministers now legally persecuted by the State of Alabama, that I wish to thank you deeply and sincerely for the truly significant contribution you have made, and, I am certain, will continue to make in the future.4
I hope your schedules will dovetail sometime soon so that we can spend a little time together under more relaxed conditions.
With warm personal regards to you and your charming wife, I am5
Sincerely yours,
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Km
1. Davis began organizing the tribute in late 1960. The idea for the benefit originated while members of the Rat Pack, a group of Hollywood entertainers including Davis and Frank Sinatra, were relaxing during the filming of Ocean’s 11 in Las Vegas (King to Davis, 20 December 1960, in Papers 5:582–583; “Sammy Davis Tells How Benefit Show for Rev. King was Born,” Jet, 19 January 1961). According to a Jet magazine article, performances by Davis, Poitier, and Jackson were well received before the packed audience. Belafonte, an actor and friend of King’s, read a congratulatory telegram from President Kennedy and introduced the civil rights leader to the audience at Carnegie Hall. Entertainers Jan Murray, Buddy Hackett, Nipsy Russell, Tony Bennett, and Count Basie also participated in the tribute (Robert E. Johnson, “Starry Tribute to King by Sinatra Clan Raises $50,000,” Jet, 9 February 1961).
2. Abernathy, “Southern Christian Leadership Conference, treasurer’s report,” 1 September 1960–31 August 1961. The tribute committee gathered sponsorship for the evening from former first lady Eleanor Roosevelt, theologian Harry Emerson Fosdick, labor leader George Meany, New York governor W. Averell Harriman, and other well-known figures (A. Philip Randolph and Harry Belafonte to Meany, 27 November 1960; Meany to Randolph and Belafonte, 19 December 1960).
3. Prior to the event, Belafonte told a reporter that “we as artists are told that we should not be identified with causes or political parties,” but that he believed artists “have a responsibility to help create a social consciousness and lend economic support to men like Reverend King” (Johnson, “Starry Tribute to King,” 9 February 1961).
4. King refers to the lawsuits filed against Ralph Abernathy, S. S. Seay, Joseph Lowery, and Fred L. Shuttlesworth by Alabama officials alleging that the four ministers and the New York Times slandered them by publishing an ad in the Times (see Introduction and facsimile of “Heed Their Rising Voices,” 19 March 1960, in Papers 5:25–26 and Papers 5:382, respectively). The lawsuit resulted in the landmark defamation case, New York Times Co. v. Sullivan, 376 U.S. 254 (1964).
5. King refers to May Britt, Davis’s wife.
Source: MLKP-MBU, Martin Luther King, Jr., Papers, 1954–1968, Boston University, Boston, Mass.