Top 9 Quotes & Sayings by Annie Elizabeth Delany

Explore popular quotes and sayings by an American doctor Annie Elizabeth Delany.
Last updated on December 21, 2024.
Annie Elizabeth Delany

Annie Elizabeth "Bessie" Delany was an American civil rights pioneer who was the subject, along with her elder sister Sarah "Sadie" Delany, of The New York Times bestselling oral history, Having Our Say: The Delany Sisters' First 100 Years, written by journalist Amy Hill Hearth. Delany earned a Doctor of Dental Surgery (DDS) degree from Columbia University in 1923. She was the second black woman licensed to practice dentistry in New York State, and became famous, with the publication of the book, when she was aged 101.

I'm a hundred-and-one years old and at my age, honey, I can say what I want! — © Annie Elizabeth Delany
I'm a hundred-and-one years old and at my age, honey, I can say what I want!
It always seemed to me that white people were judged as individuals. But if a Negro did something stupid or wrong, it was held against all of us.
Turning one hundred was the worst birthday of my life. I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy. Turning 101 was not so bad. Once you're past that century mark, it's just not as shocking.
There are certain stereotypes that are offensive. Some of them don't worry me, though. For instance, I have always thought that Mammy character in Gone with the Wind was mighty funny. And I just loved "Amos 'n' Andy" on the radio. So you see, I have enough confidence in myself that those things did not bother me. I could laugh.
Once in a while, God sends a good white person my way, even to this day. I think it's God's way of keeping me from becoming too mean. And when he sends a nice one to me, then I have to eat crow. And honey, crow is a tough old bird to eat, let me tell you.
I am a colored woman or a Negro woman. Either one is OK. People dislike those words now. Today these use this term African American. It wouldn't occur to me to use that. I prefer to think of myself as an American, that's all!
[My mother told me:] "You must decide whether you want to get married someday, or have a career."... I set my sights on the career. I thought, what does any man really have to offer me?
I think I'm just as good as anyone. That's the way I was brought up. I'll tell you a secret: I think I'm better! Ha! I remember being aware that colored people were supposed to feel inferior. I knew I was a smart little thing, a personality, an individual - a human being! I couldn't understand how people could look at me and not see that, because it sure was obvious to me.
When Negroes are average, they fail, unless they are very, very lucky. Now, if you're average and white, honey, you can go far. Just look at Dan Quayle. If that boy was colored he'd be washing dishes somewhere.
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