Elvera Sanchez

Davis Jr. stated that his mother was Puerto Rican and born in San Juan; however, in the 2003 biography In Black and White, author Wil Haygood wrote that Davis' mother was born in New York City, of Afro-Cuban descent, and that Davis claimed she was Puerto Rican because he feared anti-Cuban backlash would hurt his record sales.

From 1989, until her death in 2000, she was an adviser to the New York Committee to Celebrate National Tap Dance Day. She was also survived by a daughter, Ramona.

Elvera Sanchez was born in New York City to Cuban immigrants Luisa Valentina (née Aguiar) and Marco Sanchez. She began her career as a chorus-line dancer at the Lafayette Theater in Harlem, in 1921. She became known as "Baby Sanchez", and married Sammy Davis Sr., also a dancer, in 1923. In 1925 their son and only child, Sammy Davis Jr., was born. He would often accompany his mother and father to the theater. When Sammy Jr. was three, his parents split up and his father obtained sole custody of him, taking him on the road. Sanchez was a chorus-line dancer at Apollo Theater for six years and appeared in Oscar Micheaux’s 1938 film Swing. She continued to dance until the 1940s.

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