Racial restrictions existed all over America in the 50s and 60s. When Sammy was seriously injured in the car accident that cost him his eye, he was taken to a hospital in California that wouldn't take care of him because of his race.

His whole life, Davis had been sheltered from racism by his father and uncle. He simply had no knowledge of the racial tension in his country. When Davis was drafted, he was part of one of the 1st integrated Army units. Davis was treated poorly by fellow soldiers, and had to fight for their respect, that he never obtained. He was tripped on many occasions, called hideous names and even painted white in one case. Davis said of the experience, “Overnight the world looked different. It wasn’t one colour anymore. I could see the protection Id gotten all my life from my father and Will. I appreciated their loving hope that Id never need to know about prejudice and hate, but they were wrong, It was as if Id walked through a swinging door for 18yrs a door which had always secretly been held open by them. But they weren’t there to hold it open and when it finally hit me it was worse than if Id learned about it gradually and knew how to move with it.” Davis felt that the only way he would win the respect of is fellow soldiers was through his talent, performing and organizing in shows where, as in his normal day to day life before the Army, he received standing ovations in the days when they had to be earned, then he’d leave the theatre or stage and be called a nigger.

Sinatra's treatment of his 'friend' Sammy Davis Jr. in the Rat Pack shows, showed just how vengeful and insensitive he could be. Although Sinatra was a good friend of Davis’, it was common knowledge that they ribbed each other about anything and everything, but with the Negro jokes, he sometimes went too far. In 1959, Davis dared to tell a reporter that 'there are many things [Sinatra] does that there are no excuses for. Talent is not an excuse for bad manners. It does not give you the right to step on people and treat them rotten'. Sinatra responded by calling Davis 'a dirty nigger bastard' and had Davis' role in Sinatra's upcoming film “Never So Few” (1959) rewritten for a young Steve McQueen. Only after months of groveling and a public apology did Davis manage to ingratiate himself again with his master.

John Kennedy’s involvement with the Rat Pack meant more than people understand today. Sam was a black man daring to live in a white mans world. Racial hatred was intense and top black entertainers were relegated to ghetto theatres. Many major black stars of the 60s were actually in their decline having not been allowed to perform before mixed audiences during the many years they were at the peak of their talent. They had been deprived of an audience and the whites had been deprived of the chance to see brilliance in a person who happened to the black. JFK being seen with the Rat Pack meant risking hostility in the South, which may have resulted in costing him critical votes in the South but he didn’t care less.

Toward the end of his life, Eddie Cantor triggered an outpouring of hate mail when, on a television show, he embraced and mopped the brow of a young Sammy Davis Jr. Threatened with cancellation by his worried sponsors, Cantor promptly engaged Davis for the rest of the television season and repeated the embrace on the next show, defiantly telling his sponsors and the public--that he would not cave to racism even if it jeopardized his career. Small wonder that Cantor received a Presidential Commendation in 1964 for his "selfless" devotion to "humanitarian causes of every description."