Their own father had distinct memories of being freed as a slave. He became an Episcopal Bishop and made his children very cognizant of the value of education, given the advantages his schooling had given him, compared to other freed slaves. At St. Augustine's where the sisters were undergraduates Sadie even met Booker T. Washington, in another brush with history. For a woman to drive a car was extraordinary during that era but Sadie "got to be a good driver, and when Mr. Booker T. Washington would come to visit Raleigh, he would climb into the passenger seat of Lemuel's car" and she would act as his chauffer (Hearth 80). "Mr. Washington tried to help his people getting them educated," says Sadie sadly, mourning the fact he is often regarded by more black radicals in an unflattering way.
Hearth's purpose in writing her book is twofold. On one hand, she wishes to celebrate the lives of these extraordinary women. She also wishes to show the multifaceted nature of the black experience in America. As professionals, these two women had access to advantages that other blacks did not, but they used these opportunities to excel far beyond any expectations the black or the white community had about the lives of women. Again and again, Bessie and Sadie find themselves in the middle of what will later become epoch-shattering history -- although the sisters are careful to add that when they moved to Harlem said they did not "venture too far into the jazz scene" because "after all, we were Bishop Delany's daughters"...
The paths of these sister's was extraordinary -- Bessie graduated with a dentistry degree in 1919, when women had not long had the vote and Jim Crow was still in force in the South. "As a woman dentist, I faced sexual harassment -- that's what they call it today -- but to me, racism was always a bigger problem" (Hearth 10). Sadie was afraid to go to her first job interview, even in New York City, because she would be denied because of her race. Yet the sisters were still full participants in history, supporting their brother Hubert's run for Congress in 1929, seeing Paul Robeson portray Othello on stage, and meeting Cab Calloway (Hearth 213; 188; 216).
The sisters mourned the violence of the 1960s: "it seemed like all the leaders were getting shot -- Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, and Robert Kennedy. Sadie and I were so distressed about it" (Hearth 97). Even after they retired, they continued their quiet forms of advocacy and activism and engagement with the community, although Sadie admits that they do not have a phone, although she had to have one when Bessie was still practicing dentistry (Heath 12). At times their sense of decency seems old-fashioned, such as when they stress their Christian morality and defend themselves against racists, saying they made a contribution to America that cannot be denied. Hearth makes it clear that their…
