Parts 1-2 Summary and Analysis

Part 1, Sweet Sadie, Queen Bess, begins with the author saying, "Both more than one hundred years old, Sarah ("Sadie") Delany and her sister, Annie Elizabeth ("Bessie") Delany are among the oldest living witnesses to American history" (Part 1, page 3).

At the time the book was written in 1991, Sadie was 103 years old, Bessie was 101 years old. Despite their advanced ages, Sadie still took on the role of big sister, protecting Bessie from a world she had conquered long ago. In a time when many black families were relegated to less than acceptable employment and living conditions, the Delany family rose above, eventually becoming one of the most prominent families in black America and the country as a whole.

Henry Beard Delany, the women's father, was freed from slavery at seven years of age. In his early twenties, Delany was offered the...