Elvera Sanchez

Infobox Person
name = Elvera Sanchez
birth_date = birth date|1905|9|1
birth_place = New York City, New York? (Puerto Rico) as stated by Sammy)
death_date = death date and age|2000|9|2|1905|9|1
death_place = New York City, New York
spouse = Sammy Davis, Sr.
children = Sammy Davis, Jr.

Elvera Sanchez Davis (New York City, September 1, 1905 – New York City, September 2, 2000) was an American dancer and the mother of Sammy Davis, Jr.

During his lifetime Sammy Davis, Jr. stated that his mother was Puerto Rican and born in San Juan. [ [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1005947,00.html?promoid=googlep What Made Sammy Dance?]
Time Magazine, 2003-10-23 ] However, the 2003 biography "In Black and White" claims that he made these statements due to the political sensitivities of the 1960s and his mother was instead born in New York of Cuban ancestry. [cite book| url = http://www.randomhouse.com/knopf/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780375403545&view=excerpt | accessdate = 2006-04-29 | title = In Black and White: The Life of Sammy Davis, Jr. | first = Wil | last = Haygood | publisher = A.A. Knopf (Random House) | location = New York | pages = 516 | year = 2003 | id = ISBN 0-375-40354-X ] The book claims that Elvera was in fact born in New York, the daughter of Cuban Americans Marco Sanchez, a cigar salesman and Luisa Aguiar, information which was obtained from the daughter and granddaughter of Elvera's sister Julia and from contemporary documentation. These claims have never been confirmed by the Davis or Sanchez families, and therefore continue to remain as speculation.So, in this case, it would be best to rely on Sammy Davis Jr. himself as the source for his mother's origins.

Elvera Sanchez began her career as a chorus-line dancer at the Lafayette Theater in Harlem. She married Sammy Davis, Sr., also a dancer, in 1923. In 1925 their son and only child Sammy Davis, Jr., was born. When the child was three, the couple split up and the father obtained sole custody of his son taking him on the road. Elvera Sanchez was a chorus-line dancer at Apollo Theater for six years. She continued to dance until the 1940s.

From 1989 until her death, she was an adviser to the New York Committee to Celebrate National Tap Dance Day. Her own mother, Luisa Sanchez, died in 1996 at the age of 112. She was survived by her daughter Ramona.

References

External links

* [http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1355/is_16_98/ai_65702452 Obituary printed in Jet Magazine]
* [http://findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=9076128 Elvera Sanchez's entry on Findagrave.com]