Having Our Say, Sarah L. Delany
Having Our Say, Sarah L. Delany
13 Rating(s)
List: $16.95 | Sale: $11.87
Club: $8.47

Having Our Say
The Delany Sisters’ First 100 Years

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

Narrator: Robin Miles

Unabridged: 7 hr 5 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 01/03/2023


Synopsis

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 Sarah L. Delany

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.

About Dr. A. Elizabeth Delany

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.

About Amy Hill Hearth

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.

About Robin Miles

Robin Miles, named a Golden Voice by AudioFile magazine, has twice won the prestigious Audie Award for Best Narration, an Audie Award for directing, and many Earphones Awards. Her film and television acting credits include The Last Days of Disco, Primary Colors, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, Law & Order, New York Undercover, National Geographic’s Tales from the Wild, All My Children, and One Life to Live. She regularly gives seminars to members of SAG and AFTRA actors’ unions, and in 2005 she started Narration Arts Workshop in New York City, offering audiobook recording classes and coaching. She holds a BA degree in theater studies from Yale University, an MFA in acting from the Yale School of Drama, and a certificate from the British American Drama Academy in England.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Bill on March 10, 2020

An absorbing, likable book about two aged sisters who tell the story of their family's rise from slavery to the ranks of the black middle-class. Particularly memorable on the Harlem Renaissance.......more

Goodreads review by Brennan on November 24, 2007

I think that Having Our Say was a really good book. I thought it was really cool hearing their life story because they have been through so much. I think that my favorite of the sisters was Bessie. Just because she was always willing to say what she was thinking whether or not she would get in troub......more

Goodreads review by Faith on September 04, 2010

A delightful read! I sailed through it in just a week of bus and subway rides. These two sisters lived remarkable lives and have much to teach about tolerance and perseverance. The copyright on the book is 1993 and I wanted to find out what happened to these lovely ladies, so I Googled them and foun......more

Goodreads review by Charlene on March 26, 2022

A quick and entertaining memoir . . . 2 sisters, one the first African American domestic science teacher in the New York Public school system and the second one a dentist in practice with her younger brother in Harlem, reflect back on their very long lives and on their amazing family. The sisters gr......more

Goodreads review by Wilhelmina on August 21, 2008

Warm, funny, heartrending, enlightening - the Delany sisters' book was just amazing. Because of their family and their own determination, these women personally experienced so much of the good and the bad of this country over a century of living. Reading about the Delany sisters and their family mak......more


Quotes

“I felt proud to be an American citizen reading Having Our Say…[They] evoke an epic history…often cruel and brutal but always deeply humane.” New York Times Book Review

“An unforgettable testimony to the dignity and courage of African-American women.” Shirlee Taylor Haizlip, author of Sweeter the Juice

“The Delany sisters leave to us the best of legacies—two sets of dancing footprints for us to follow all our days ahead.” Clarissa Pinkola Estés, author of Women Who Run with the Wolves