Delany, Sarah Louise, 1889-1999

Sarah Louise Delany (b. Sept. 19, 1889, Lynch's Station, VA-d. Jan. 25, 1999, Mount Vernon, NY) was the daughter of Rev. Henry Beard Delany (1858–1928), born a slave and later the first Black person elected Bishop of the Episcopal Church in the US, and Nanny Logan Delany (1861–1956), an educator. Sarah was also known as Sadie and spent her career teaching high school for the New York City Public Schools; she was the first black person permitted to teach domestic science on the high school level in New York City. She earned degrees from St. Augustine's School (1910), Pratt Institute (1916), Columbia University (BA, 1920; MA, 1926). Delany found she could not support herself on her teaching salary in her early days. She began baking to sell to colleagues and eventually rented a loft in the late 1920's to make her confections. "Delany's Delights" were sold all over New York; the business closed after the 1929 stock market crash

Sarah and her sister Bessie were interviewed in the New York Times by Amy Hearth. The sisters with Hearth wrote an an oral history called "Having Our Say: The Delany Sisters' First 100 Years" which was turned into a play and film.

Sarah lived in Harlem and socialized with many of the most prominent blacks of that era, including W. E. B. DuBois, Paul Robeson, and Langston Hughes.