Having Our Say by Sadie and Bessie Delany Essay - 1084 Words

Having Our Say by Sadie and Bessie Delany The social, cultural and political history of America as it affects the life course of American citizens became very real to us as the Delany sisters, Sadie and Bessie, recounted their life course spanning a century of living in their book Having Our Say. The Delany sisters’ lives covered the period of their childhood in Raleigh, North Carolina, after the Surrender to their adult lives in Harlem, New York City during the roaring twenties, to a quiet retirement in suburban, New York City, as self-styled maiden ladies. At the ages of 102 and 104, these ladies have lived long enough to look back over a century of their existence and appreciate the value of a good family life and†¦show more content†¦Basic habits such as clean bodies, clean thoughts, a love of music and concern for the less fortunate, became a way of life in their family. Therefore, the Delanys, although not wealthy were considered an elite black family due to their high values and standards (p.69). Why in reviewing their lives they considered themselves very lucky? Because the life of black people outside the doors of their sheltered home and the gates of St. Augustine were vastly different. Sadie and Bessie witnessed and experienced the insults and indignities of being black in the South during the Reconstruction period and the enactment of Jim Crow laws. John Hope Franklin, in his book From Slavery to Freedom, explained that after the Civil War, the South was filled with former slaves who were disoriented and ill prepared for freedom, suffering from starvation and disease †¦ homeless and without jobs wandering from place to place, much to the disgust and fear of whites. (Franklin, p. 222). That was the plight of most black people. Sadie and Bessie worked during the Reconstruction era teaching in the rural south to raise money and saw the poverty and felt the insults of Jim Crow Laws with its Coloreds and Whites only signs. And as Lerone Bennett, Jr. in A HistoryShow More RelatedHaving Our Say Essay9582 Words   |  39 PagesBookRags Literature Study Guide Having Our Say (novel) by Sarah Louise Delany For the online version of BookRags Having Our Say (novel) Literature Study Guide, including complete copyright information, please visit: http://www.bookrags.com/studyguide-having-our-say/ Copyright Information  ©2000-2011 BookRags, Inc. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. The following sections of this BookRags Literature Study Guide is offprint from Gales For Students Series: Presenting Analysis, Context, and CriticismRead MoreThe Delany Sisters Essay841 Words   |  4 PagesHaving Our Say: The Delany Sisters First 100 Years Having Our Say is the amazing story about the almost invincible Delany sisters. In this novel, Sarah L. Delaney and A. Elizabeth Delany tell the tale of their century long lives in America. The reader learns about their whole lives starting from their childhood, which was on the campus of St. Augustines College in Raleigh, North Carolina, all the way to their final years in which they lived in New York. During their lives, the Delany sistersRead MoreRacism in Having Our Say862 Words   |  4 PagesHaving Our Say â€Å"The truth is you’re born a certain way and there’s some things you can change and some things you can’t† One of the many smart truthful things that Elizabeth Delany (Bessie) said. As Bessie and Sarah Delany (Sadie) grow up, the book Having our Say by Amy Hill Hearth and the two sisters follows every bit of the sisters lives through their own eyes just as they remembered it. As the two â€Å"colored† women are born and raised in the south they are raised on the campus of Saint Augustine’sRead MoreFull Bio Psycho Social Assessment Of Bessie Delany2241 Words   |  9 PagesHaving Our Say Full bio-psycho-social assessment of Bessie Delany In this assignment, Professor Alton Clark Dubois’ Social Work 319 class was required to read the book; having Our Say by the Delany sisters’ first hundred years (Delany, Delany, Hearth, 1993). Author Amy H. Hearth co-wrote this inspiring book alongside sisters Bessie and Addie Delany. â€Å"This book is woven from thousands of anecdotes that I coaxed from the Delany sisters’ during an 18-month period (September 1991 to AprilRead MoreSarah Louise s Relationship Between Race, Class And Gender Essay841 Words   |  4 Pageshundred years is just a blip in time on the cosmic scale, living from 1889 to 1999, as Sarah Louise Sadie Delany did, is not something to be overlooked. In fact, Sadie and her younger sister Annie Elizabeth Delany’s (also known as Bessie) total age was 213 years old! That is incredibly aspiring, given the fact that these two women witnessed a century of oppression and subjugation. Having Our Say is the story of these remarkable sisters, with the opening of the film showing us the sisters as old