Dancing down the barricades : Sammy Davis Jr. and the long civil rights era : a cultural history / Matthew Frye Jacobson.
"Through the lens of Sammy Davis Jr.'s six-decade career in show business-from vaudeville to Vegas to Broadway, Hollywood, and network TV-Dancing Down the Barricades examines the workings of race in American culture. The title phrase holds two contradictory meanings regarding Davis's cultural politics: did he dance the barricades down, as he liked to think, or did he simply dance down them, as his more radical critics would have it? Sammy Davis Jr. was at once a pioneering, barrier-busting, anti-Jim Crow activist and someone who was widely associated with accommodationism and wannabe whiteness. Historian Matthew Jacobson attends to both threads, analyzing how industry norms, productions, scripts, roles, and audience expectations and responses were all framed by race, against a backdrop of a changing America. In the spirit of better understanding Davis's life and career, Dancing Down the Barricades examines the complexities of his constraints, freedoms, and choices for what they reveal about Black history and American political culture"-- Provided by publisher.
Record details
- ISBN: 9780520391802
- ISBN: 0520391802
- Physical Description: xxviii, 314 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm
- Publisher: Oakland, California : University of California Press, [2023]
- Copyright: ©2023
Content descriptions
- Bibliography, etc. Note:
- Includes bibliographical references and index.
- Formatted Contents Note:
- Preface : the long civil rights era -- Star rising at twilight : a childhood in vaudeville -- "A concentrated bunch of haters" : war time in Wyoming -- The all-negro cast, and other black spaces -- The Vegas Strip, network TV, and other white spaces -- "Division is not our destiny" : interracial romance and Golden boy -- Writing wrongs in Yes I can -- "The skin commits you" : civil rights itinerary -- Coda : what is the "post" of "post-civil rights"?
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Available copies
- 7 of 7 copies available at NC Cardinal.
- 1 of 1 copy available at Onslow County Public Library. (Show)
Holds
- 0 current holds with 7 total copies.
Show Only Available Copies
| Location | Call Number / Copy Notes | Barcode | Shelving Location | Status | Due Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jacksonville Main Library | BIO DAVIS (Text) | 36015000548855 | Adult Biography | Available | - |
| Braswell Memorial Main Library | 792.7028 JAC (Text) | 37807000053446 | Adult Nonfiction | Available | - |
| Fletcher Branch | DAVIS (Text) | 33258010236342 | Adult Biography | Available | - |
| Henderson Main Branch | DAVIS (Text) | 33258010236351 | Adult Biography | Available | - |
| High Point Library | 792.7028 Jacobson (Text) | 30519010901588 | Adult Nonfiction | Available | - |
| Pack Memorial Library | 792.702 JAC (Text) | 0020513550762 | Adult Nonfiction | Available | - |
| Statesville Main Library | B DAVIS JAC (Text) | 33114018633628 | Adult Nonfiction | Available | - |
Accessibility Features
Summary:
"Through the lens of Sammy Davis Jr.'s six-decade career in show business-from vaudeville to Vegas to Broadway, Hollywood, and network TV-Dancing Down the Barricades examines the workings of race in American culture. The title phrase holds two contradictory meanings regarding Davis's cultural politics: did he dance the barricades down, as he liked to think, or did he simply dance down them, as his more radical critics would have it? Sammy Davis Jr. was at once a pioneering, barrier-busting, anti-Jim Crow activist and someone who was widely associated with accommodationism and wannabe whiteness. Historian Matthew Jacobson attends to both threads, analyzing how industry norms, productions, scripts, roles, and audience expectations and responses were all framed by race, against a backdrop of a changing America. In the spirit of better understanding Davis's life and career, Dancing Down the Barricades examines the complexities of his constraints, freedoms, and choices for what they reveal about Black history and American political culture"--
