Having Our Say by Sadie and Bessie Delany Essay -- Having Our Say Lite

Having Our Say by Sadie and Bessie Delany The social, cultural and political history of the States as it affects the life course of American citizens became very real to us as the Delany sisters, Sadie and Bessie, recounted their life course spanning a century of living in their book Having Our Say. The Delany sisters lives coered the period of their childhood in Raleigh, North Carolina, afterward the Surrender to their adult lives in Harlem, New York City during the roaring twenties, to a quiet retirement in suburban, New York City, as self-styled initiatory ladies. At the ages of 102 and 104, these ladies have lived long enough to look back over a century of their existence and appreciate the value of a cracking family life and companionship, also to have the last laugh that in kindle of all their struggles with racism, sexism, political and economic changes they triumphed (Having Our Say). Of all the ten children of Henry and she-goat Delany, Sadie and Bessie developed a bond of companionship from childhood to the end of their lives. They were all the same able to complete each others thoughts, because they shared what Karl Mannheim describe as a common location in the social and historical process that predisposes them for a certain characteristic mode of thought and experience. They therefore, corroborated nearly of Mannheims discussions on location and its effect on a times (Karl Mannheim, The Sociological Problem of Generations, pp. 290-91). Further, throughout the book, Sadie and Bessie continuously reminds the reader of the strong work family life had on their entire lives. Their produce and mother were college educated and their father was the first black Episcopal priest and vice principal at St. Augustine Co... ...ieth century America. The majority of blacks during that era, did not possess the family status and class twist that surrounds the Delany sisters and, therefore, it would virtually be impossible for them to succeed at the leve l the Delanys did. precisely the Delanys still had their share of personal troubles which was influenced by public issues but they survived and in their own unique, humorous way lived to say Weve outlived those old rebby boys Thats matchless way to beat them Thats justice Works CitedDelany, S., Delany, A., and Hearth, A. Having Our Say. New York 1967. Mannheim, K., Essays on the Sociology of Knowledge. Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd. 1952. Bennett, L. younger A History of Black America. Sixth edition, Penguin Books 1993. Franklin, J., Moss, A. Jr. From Slavery to Freedom. Seventh edition, McGraw Hill, Inc. 1994.