The Delany Sisters

(Annie Elizabeth "Bessie" Delany - L & Sarah Louise "Sadie" Delany - R)

Sarah Louise "Sadie" Delany (1889-1999) and Annie Elizabeth "Bessie" Delany (1891-1995) - "The Delany Sisters" are credited by the Guinness Book of World Records as being the world's oldest authors at ages 103 and 105 in 1994.They co-authored two books, Having Our Say: The Delany Sisters' First 100 Years and The Delany Sisters' Book of Everyday Wisdom. After Bessie's passing, Sadie authored a third book, On My Own At 107: Reflections on Life Without Bessie. Prior to their work as authors, Sadie was a schoolteacher until retirement, and Bessie was dentist - being the second African-American woman to become licensed to practice dentistry in the state of New York. The sisters were the second and third eldest of ten children. Their mother, Nanny Logan Delany, was an educator; and their father, Henry Beard Delany, was born into slavery and later became the first African-American to be elected Bishop of the Episcopal Church in the United States.