Annie Elizabeth Delany Quotes

United States, Dentist
September 3, 1891 – September, 25, 1995.

Annie Elizabeth "Bessie" Delany was an American dentist and 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, 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.

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.

Annie Elizabeth Delany
- Worst
- Birthday
- Century
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.

Annie Elizabeth Delany

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.

Annie Elizabeth Delany
- God
- Person
- White
I thought I could change the world. It took me a hundred years to figure out I can't change the world. I can only change Bessie. And honey, that ain't easy either.

Annie Elizabeth Delany
- World
- Thinking
- Change
I'm a hundred-and-one years old and at my age, honey, I can say what I want!

Annie Elizabeth Delany
- Age
- Old
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.

Annie Elizabeth Delany
- White
- Negroes
- Colored
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.

Annie Elizabeth Delany
- People
- White
- Negro
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!

Annie Elizabeth Delany

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.

Annie Elizabeth Delany
[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?

Annie Elizabeth Delany
- Mother
- Career
- Married