I have often been told that Frank Sinatra was influential in ending bans on black people eating and staying in many hotels due to a refusal to perform anywhere that wouldn't serve Sammy Davis Jr. Is there any truth to this? Additionally, if this is true, is there any evidence of this having a wider impact outside of individual establishments, at the city or state level?
Frank Sinatra specifically held attitudes and took actions that did help promote integration in Las Vegas entertainment. This is exceedingly well documented in multiple articles over the last 20 years.
However, at least one historian would argue Sinatra was late to the party, and that Josephine Baker and others were first, considering Josephine Baker had integrated audiences prior to Sinatra.
The historian, Claytee White, noted this in the interview noted above:
“My argument is that the black community fought for and won the basic human right of using public accommodations, not an entertainer who was able to get his friend a room for a few nights,” she said. “I am more interested in the long-term rights that provided access of the entire community not just the opportunity of an entertainer to spend two weeks in a hotel room.”
White argues that the work for Black rights in Vegas began after a 1925 Klan March.
The specific Sammy Davis/Sinatra incident that is most often listed as a catalyst is recounted here.
Prior to 1950, band leaders like Benny Goodman had already integrated, and integrated performances weren’t uncommon in the northern part of the United States.
Additionally, it is important to note Sinatra was supportive of integration prior to the 1950s and Sammy Davis, Jr. particularly the Froebel/Gary student strike in 1945, the same year The House I Live In, a short film combating anti-Semitism, was released.