Perspective

"Having Our Say: The Delany Sisters First 100 Years," written by Sarah and A. Elizabeth Delany with Amy Hill Hearth, is a work of non-fiction and therefore relies on the perspective of the author and narrators to relay pertinent information relative to the women's journey. Although this book is a memoir, the addition of Hearth helps to present many facts objectively.

Part 1, in the book, "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...