HAVING OUR SAY: THE DELANY SISTERS' FIRST 100 YEARS (TV)

Summary

This made-for-television film is based on the remarkable true story of centenarian sisters Bessie and Sadie Delany. The story begins in 1991 in Mount Vernon, New York, as the women dismiss a young man who has been sent to their home to install a telephone line, declaring that they are still not interested in the "new" technology. In 1896, the girls spend some happy time in Virginia with their grandparents, an interracial couple, before home returning to their parents and eight siblings. In the present, Amy Hill Hearth of the New York Times arrives at the sisters' home to interview them as part of her article on the black middle class, though Bessie takes offense to her curiosity. Sadie convinces her to go through with it, however, and the sisters explain that all ten siblings attended college, as their intellectual reverend father taught them all to "reach high." They add that their father was in fact born a slave, but was educated by his "very fine" owners and later met their mother at Saint Augustine's University. Sadie and Bessie reveal that they are 103 and 101 years old – and "molasses and vinegar" – respectively, and Bessie states that she cannot "forgive and forget" certain disturbing incidents from her past, including her first encounter with Jim Crow laws and introduction to racism. The sisters are pleased to hear that Amy's husband is a minister, though they speculate that remaining unmarried has contributed to their own long lifespans.

Three months later, the sisters receive many letters in response to Amy's article, though Bessie is uncertain about expanding their story into a book. She recalls their father's angry reaction to their wandering off into the woods one afternoon, and at the dinner table young Bessie asks frank questions about racism and the "color of the soul." They tell Amy about their lifelong fear of racial violence, adding that they still prefer to use the outdated term "colored" for themselves, and Bessie admits that she still has a deep-seated dislike of white people but feels that "God sends her a few good ones" to teach her a lesson. In 1914, Sadie, now a schoolteacher, brings Booker T. Washington to meet her students, and Bessie heads to school in New York and bonds two other young teachers, Mildred and Harriet, on the train. A young man, Frank, comes to the Delany home to call on Sadie, though Sadie worries about her father's disapproval when the reverend declines to invite him to dinner. At one of the train stops, a white man makes offensive advances towards Bessie, and when she firmly refuses him, Mildred and Harriet prepare to flee, worried that they will be attacked for the "insult," though Bessie refuses to run.

In the present, the sisters prepare to host a dinner for their late father's birthday, preferring to celebrate his life rather than mourn his death, and Amy accompanies them to the grocery store, where Bessie reveals that garlic and cod liver oil are partially to thank for their longevity. In the past, Reverend Delany informs Sadie that he has heard "unacceptable" rumors of Frank's behavior and forbids her from seeing him again, though Bessie notes that the choice should have been Sadie's alone. Bessie heads to medical school at Columbia and is upset to receive an F, though she proves the teacher's racism by secretly trading assignments with a white friend, who receives an A for the same work. The sisters explain to Amy that black people cannot "slip up" in white society and must work extra-hard to prove themselves, adding that Bessie eventually graduated with honors and became a dentist. In Harlem in 1925, Sadie's brothers advise her to skip the in-person interview and simply use her credentials to secure a teaching job, and she soon lands a position teaching science at Roosevelt High School. They take Amy to visit Bessie's former office, noting that "the stars of the movement," like W.E.B. DuBois, often gathered there. Young Bessie decides to protest the re-release of the infamous film "The Birth of a Nation," though she ends up swamped with work and misses it. Frazier Johnson seeks her aid when he is arrested and mildly injured at the protest, and she is upset when he proposes marriage to her, explaining that she wishes only to be a doctor and not a wife and mother.

Bessie explains that she, like DuBois, was often involved in Civil Rights-related protests, though Sadie, like Washington, chose to avoid "confrontation," and they agree that being black was more of a societal challenge than being female. Bessie tells her sister that she is going blind, though Sadie dismisses her worries, and they recall their mother's heartbreak and decline in the wake of their father's death. Bessie is saddened to realize that she must close her practice in order to care for her mother, who suffers further grief when two of her sons, Manross and Lemuel, die in rapid succession. Sadie admits that she became a "complete individual" only at age sixty-seven after her mother's death, and she and Bessie move to Mount Vernon in 1957. They are annoyed when the "neighborhood welcome" assumes that they are the household maids, but they remain in the home through the 1990s. Bessie is delighted when the soft-spoken Sadie finally tells off some rowdy teens who have been loitering on their property, and four generations of Delanys – plus Amy – soon sit down to the Reverend's birthday dinner. Bessie offers her opinions on notorious Klan member and presidential hopeful David Duke, noting that she herself would be well-suited to be America's first black Commander-in-Chief, and Amy praises the sisters' indomitable spirits.

Three years later, Bessie, Sadie and Amy attend the Broadway production of "Having Our Say," and are received with great excitement by the watching crowd. The film closes by noting that Bessie passed away in 1995 at the age of 104, and Bessie followed in 1999 at 110. Commercials deleted.

Details

• NETWORK: CBS
• DATE: April 18, 1999 9:00 PM
• RUNNING TIME: 1:33:44
• COLOR/B&W: Color
• CATALOG ID: B:83944
• GENRE: Drama
• SUBJECT HEADING: African-American Collection - Drama; Drama, historical; Siblings
• SERIES RUN: CBS - TV, 1999
• COMMERCIALS: N/A

CREDITS

• Jeffrey S. Grant … Executive Producer
• Camille O. Cosby … Executive Producer
• Judith R. James … Executive Producer
• Preston Fischer … Supervising Producer
• Tony Amatullo … Producer
• Roseanne Leto … Co-Producer
• Joe DeOliveira … Associate Producer
• Lynne Littman … Director
• Emily Mann … Writer
• A. Elizabeth Delany … Based on the book by
• Sarah L. Delany … Based on the book by
• Amy Hill Hearth … Based on the book by
• Dennis McCarthy … Music by
• Diahann Carroll … Cast, Sadie Delany
• Ruby Dee … Cast, Annie Elizabeth 'Bessie' Delany
• Amy Madigan … Cast, Amy Hill Hearth
• Lisa Arrindell Anderson … Cast, Sadie in her 20s
• Mykelti Williamson … Cast, Papa Delany
• Lonette McKee … Cast, Mama Delany
• Clifton Powell … Cast, Frazier Johnson
• Bumper Robinson … Cast, Frank
• Lizan Mitchell … Cast, Actress Playing Bessie on Broadway
• Micki Grant … Cast, Actress Playing Sadie on Broadway
• Audra McDonald … Cast, Bessie in her 20s
• Richard Roundtree … Cast, Booker T. Washington
• Della Reese … Cast, Martha Logan
• Haleigh Porter … Cast, Bessie, Age 5
• Kiara Harris … Cast, Sadie, Age 7
• Cameron Arnett … Cast, Lemuel
• Bobby Tyson … Cast, Hap
• Rebecca Koon … Cast, Miss Moseley
• April Jones … Cast, Harriet
• Patty Mack … Cast, Mildred
• Terry Nienhuis … Cast, Mr. Milliam
• Thomas Clark … Cast, Lucious
• Sharlease Collier … Cast, Churchgoer
• Brandon Crawford … Cast, Bag Boy
• Cordereau Dye … Cast, Hubert Thomas Delany
• Annie Joe Edwards … Cast, New Tenant
• Carter Gaston … Cast, Manross Delaney
• Alison Robertson … Cast, Teacher
• Alex Van … Cast, Drunk White Man