Learn about their groundbreaking careers

FREMONT — The Delany sisters had groundbreaking careers at a time when women, especially Black women, had few educational and advancement opportunities. The Hayes Presidential Library & Museums site in Fremont is sharing their story with the performance of a play about their lives on Saturday, March 14 in the museum auditorium. Regina Vincent-Williams, of Fremont, and Francine Butler, of Delaware, Ohio, will perform "Having Our Say: The Delany Sisters' First 100 Years." The show is from 7-8 p.m., followed by a question-and-answer session with Vincent-Williams and Butler. Tickets for ages 19 and older are $20 for non-members and $15 for Hayes Presidential members. Tickets for ages 18 and younger are $10. Tickets are available at rbhayes.org and searching for "Having Our Say: The Delany Sisters' First 100 Years" This event is part of Hayes Presidential's America-250 Celebration as well as in celebration of Women's History Month. What to expect Based on the acclaimed book of the same title, "Having Our Say" is a remarkable journey through 100 years of American history through the eyes of two witty and wise centenarian sisters, Sadie and Bessie Delany. Born in the late 1800s in the South, the Delany sisters were the daughters of a man born into slavery. The sisters and their eight siblings were raised on the campus of Saint Augustine's School in Raleigh, North Carolina, where their father was an Episcopal minister and vice principal and their mother a teacher and administrator. As young women during the World War I era, the sisters moved to New York City, joining the great migration of Black Americans in search of opportunity in the north. The Delany sisters' accomplishments were extraordinarily rare. At a time when few women — and even fewer Black women — received a college education, the Delany Sisters earned advanced degrees from Columbia University. Bessie Delany was awarded a doctor of dental surgery degree in 1923, and Sadie Delany was awarded a master's degree in education in 1925. Both embarked on groundbreaking careers: • Bessie Delany became the second Black woman to practice dentistry in the state of New York • Sadie, the first Black person to teach domestic science at the high school level in New York City public schools, a job previously reserved for whites. Living and working in Harlem, the Delany Sisters knew many luminaries, including Dr. W.E.B. DuBois, Booker T. Washington, James Weldon Johnson, Eleanor Roosevelt and Paul Robeson as well as entertainers, such as Cab Calloway, Ethel Waters and Duke Ellington. The Delany sisters' recollections in 'Having Our Say' provide new insight into what was called the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s and 1930s. In "Having Our Say," the sisters recount a fascinating series of events and anecdotes drawn from their rich family history and careers as pioneering Black professionals. Their story is not simply Black history or women's history: It is American history, told through the eyes of two unforgettable women as they look not only into the past, but also ahead into the 21st century. The play, which earned three Tony Award nominations, including Best Play, was described by the New York Post as "A window on a world now lost, full of love, a little pain and a wondrous deal of hope." The New York Times said it was, "The most provocative and entertaining family play to reach Broadway in a long time." "Having Our Say: The Delany Sisters' First 100 Years" is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals on behalf of Dramatists Play Service. Vincent-Williams, a native of Talladega, Alabama, has performed as the White Witch ("Lion, Witch, & Wardrobe"); Beneatha ("Raisin in the Sun"); and had other roles in Tiffin, Bellevue and Toledo ("To Kill a Mockingbird," "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum," "Mrs. Witherspoon"). She is a member of the Cosmopolitan Club, the Hayes Presidential Board of Trustees, and a life member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. and the NAACP. She is also an author, spoken-word artist, and retired communications/ public speaking instructor at Tiffin University, Tennessee State University, and Kennesaw State University. She occasionally teaches Life Scholars classes at Terra State.