Conversation: The Delany Sisters

Conversation: The Delany Sisters (11:00)

In this classic interview with NewsHour correspondent Charlayne Hunter-Gault, Having Our Say authors Sarah and Bessie Delany discuss the trials and triumphs of their first 100 years. Their subjects include life in the South for African-Americans in the early 20th century, coping with the implementation of the Jim Crow laws, and bigotry in the North. Bessie touches on what it was like to grow up with a father who recalled slavery and the arrival of freedom after the Confederate surrender. Sarah tells how, as a young woman, she defended herself against a drunk white man at a Georgia train station and how she found ways around the institutionalized racism in New York City’s education system. (11 minutes)

Daughters of a Slave (04:50)
The Delaney sisters are daughters of slaves. At age 100, they touch on what it was like to grow up with a father who recalled slavery and the arrival of freedom after the Confederate surrender.

Jim Crow Era (03:24)
Sarah tells how, as a young woman, she defended herself against a drunk white man at a Georgia train station and how she found ways around the institutionalized racism in New York City’s education system.

Jim Crow in the North (02:39)
Bessie Delaney recalls how she was the only one to fail dental school on the basis of race alone.