Having Our Say: The Delany Sisters’ First 100 Years

Sarah L. Delany, Dr. A. Elizabeth Delany, Amy Hill Hearth

Blackstone Publishing, Jan 3, 2023 - Biography & Autobiography

Warm, feisty, and intelligent, the Delany sisters speak their mind in a book that is at once a vital historical record and a moving portrait of two remarkable women who continued to love, laugh, and embrace life after over a hundred years of living side by side.

Their sharp memories tell us about the post-Reconstruction South and Booker T. Washington, Harlem’s Golden Age and Langston Hughes, W. E. B. Du Bois and Paul Robeson.

Bessie Delany breaks barriers to become a dentist; Sadie Delany quietly integrates the New York City system as a high school teacher. Their extraordinary story makes an important contribution to our nation’s heritage—and an indelible impression on our lives.

About the author

Sarah L. Delany (1889–1999) and her sister Dr. A Elizabeth Delany (1891–1995) were born in Raleigh, North Carolina, on the campus of St. Augustine’s College. Their father, born into slavery and freed by the Emancipation, was an administrator at the college and America’s first elected Black Episcopal bishop. Sarah received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Teachers College at Columbia University and was New York City’s first appointed Black home economics teacher on the high school level. Elizabeth received her degree in dentistry from Columbia University and was the second Black woman licensed to practice dentistry in New York City.

Dr. A Elizabeth Delany (1891–1995) and her sister Sarah were born in Raleigh, North Carolina, on the campus of St. Augustine’s College. Their father, born into slavery and freed by the Emancipation, was an administrator at the college and America’s first elected Black Episcopal bishop. Elizabeth received her degree in dentistry from Columbia University and was the second Black woman licensed to practice dentistry in New York City.

Amy Hill Hearth is an American nonfiction author, novelist, and journalist whose work focuses on forgotten or overlooked voices and extraordinary stories from the past. She has written ten books since the publication of Having Our Say, which was her first book. Her work has been translated into ten languages and has won multiple awards, including a Peabody Award, a Septima Clark Book Award from the National Council for the Social Studies, and two “Notable Book” citations from the American Library Association. She is a New York Times, Washington Post, USA Today, and Publishers Weekly bestselling author.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Having Our Say: The Delany Sisters’ First 100 Years
• Authors: Sarah L. Delany, Dr. A. Elizabeth Delany, Amy Hill Hearth
• Edition: unabridged
• Publisher: Blackstone Publishing, 2023
• ISBN: 9798212171281
• Subjects: Biography & Autobiography / Cultural, Ethnic & Regional / African American & Black; History / African American & Black; History / Social History