If you’re unfamiliar with the true life story of the Delany sisters, you are in for a great treat! Years ago with my book club I read their memoir Having Our Say: The Delany Sisters’ First Hundred Years. These women were not only remarkable for their long lives but also for what they did with them.
Sarah Louise, known as “Sadie,” was the older of the pair, born September 19, 1889. Almost exactly two years later, on September 3, 1891, her sister Annie Elizabeth, “Bessie,” came into the world. They were siblings number two and three in an African-American family of ten children born to Henry and Nan. Henry had been born into slavery but rose to become the first Black Episcopal bishop in the United States. He served as vice principal at St. Augustine’s School in Raleigh, North Carolina, where he and Nan raised their family. Nan taught at the school and worked as an administrator.
From their early years, the girls were encouraged to work hard and study hard. To earn extra money they would pick cotton on the campus farm, when they were not doing school work, playing musical instruments, or attending church services. All ten siblings received a college education at a time when it was uncommon for people of any color to achieve a higher degree than high school. Sadie and Bessie earned advanced degrees, which was unprecedented for women at that time, especially Black women.
New York City looked to be a good place for young Black people who wanted to leave behind many of the racial situations of the South and earn a better living. The sisters, along with three of their siblings, moved into an apartment together and split the rent five ways. Sadie finished her education and received her first teaching job at a mostly Black school in Harlem. This was the norm, she said, because White people did not want Blacks from the South coming North to teach children. When one even objected to a Southern accent, Sadie took lessons with a speech coach. She sought a job at the high school level, where Black teachers were not permitted. Cleverly, she found a way around this discrimination (you can read her story in the book; it’s hilarious) and became the first Black teacher in NYC schools to teach high school home economics. Her sister had a different career path in mind. Bessie studied dentistry at Columbia University in 1919, the only Black woman in a class of 170 people She became just the second Black woman with a dental license in the state.
The Delany sisters chose to remain unmarried throughout their extraordinary lives. The Harlem Renaissance took place in New York City, and they met many of the key players. Bessie became involved in the civil rights movement, and they both registered to vote as soon as it was legal and continued to stay active for the rest of their long lives.
After Having Our Say was published, they wrote another book The Delany Sisters’ Book of Everyday Wisdom. As a result of the second book, they earned a Guinness World Record, becoming the world’s oldest female authors. They were 105, and 103 at the time of publication.
Bessie lived to 104, passing away in 1995. Her older sister Sadie passed away in 1999 at the age of 109.
A TV movie about their story, starring Ruby Dee and Diahann Carroll, came out in 1999. It also became a successful play in 1995. There is a short video with an interview here. Be sure to check out their fascinating full story in the book here. This is an affiliate link; thank you for supporting my work.