Two women will perform excerpts from a play about extraordinary sisters who had groundbreaking careers at a time when women – especially Black women — had few educational and advancement opportunities on Saturday, March 14, at the Hayes Presidential Library & Museums.

Regina Vincent-Williams, Ph.D., of Fremont, and Francine Butler, of Delaware, Ohio will give a dramatic reading of portions of “Having Our Say: The Delany Sisters’ First 100 Years” in the museum auditorium.

The show is from 7 to 8 p.m., followed by a question-and-answer session with Vincent-Williams and Butler.

Tickets for ages 19 and older are $20 for non-members and $15 for Hayes Presidential members. Tickets for ages 18 and younger are $10.

Tickets are available at https://www.rbhayes.org/news/2026/02/23/general/play-having-our-say-the-delany-sisters-first-100-years-excerpts-to-be-performed-at-hayes-presidential/.

This event is part of Hayes Presidential’s America250 Celebration, as well as in celebration of Women’s History Month.
Based on the acclaimed book of the same title, “Having Our Say” is a remarkable journey through 100 years of American history through the eyes of two witty and wise centenarian sisters, Sadie and Bessie Delany.

Born in the late 1800s in the South, the Delany sisters were the daughters of a man born into slavery. The sisters and their eight siblings were raised on the campus of Saint Augustine’s School in Raleigh, North Carolina, where their father was an Episcopal minister and vice-principal, and their mother a teacher and administrator.

As young women during the World War I era, the sisters moved to New York City, joining the great migration of Black Americans in search of opportunity in the North.

The Delany sisters’ accomplishments were extraordinarily rare. At a time when few women — and even fewer Black women — received a college education, the Delany Sisters earned advanced degrees from Columbia University. Bessie Delany was awarded a Doctor of Dental Surgery degree in 1923, and Sadie Delany, a master’s degree in education in 1925.
Both embarked on ground-breaking careers. Bessie Delany became the second Black woman to practice dentistry in the State of New York, and Sadie, the first Black person to teach domestic science at the high school level in New York City public schools, a job previously reserved for whites.

Living and working in Harlem, the Delany Sisters knew many luminaries including Dr. W.E.B. DuBois, Booker T. Washington, James Weldon Johnson, Eleanor Roosevelt and Paul Robeson as well as entertainers such as Cab Calloway, Ethel Waters and Duke Ellington. The Delany sisters’ recollections in ‘Having Our Say’ provide new insight into what was called the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s and ’30s.

In ‘Having Our Say,’ the sisters recount a fascinating series of events and anecdotes drawn from their rich family history and careers as pioneering Black professionals. Their story is not simply Black history or women’s history. It is American history, told through the eyes of two unforgettable women as they look not only into the past, but also ahead into the 21st century.

The play, which earned three Tony Award nominations including Best Play, was described by the New York Post as “A window on a world now lost, full of love, a little pain and a wondrous deal of hope.”
The New York Times said it was, “The most provocative and entertaining family play to reach Broadway in a long time.”

‘HAVING OUR SAY, THE DELANY SISTERS’ FIRST 100 YEARS’ is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals on behalf of Dramatists Play Service. www.concordtheatricals.com Credited authors/performers are Vincent-Williams and Butler.

Vincent-Williams, a native of Talladega, Alabama, has performed as the White Witch (“Lion, Witch, & Wardrobe”); Beneatha (“Raisin in the Sun”); and had other roles in Tiffin, Bellevue and Toledo (“To Kill a Mockingbird,” “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum,” “Mrs. Witherspoon”).

She is a member of the Cosmopolitan Club, the Hayes Presidential Board of Trustees, and a life member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. and the NAACP.

She is also an author, spoken-word artist, and retired communications/ public speaking instructor at Tiffin University, Tennessee State University, and Kennesaw State University. She occasionally teaches Life Scholars classes at Terra State.

Butler has choreographed productions for schools, community theater, concerts and worship settings. She is a graduate of Performing Arts High School in New York City and Purchase College in New York.

She and her husband, Mark Butler, formed the Community Arts Network in Delaware, Ohio, and created the film “Camp Delaware,” which features the story of the 5th U.S. Colored Troops int in the Civil War. The film has been screened several times at Hayes Presidential.
Vincent-Williams and Butler met at one of the events for President Hayes’ 200th Birthday Celebration at Hayes Presidential and immediately connected. They both love performing arts. Both love the story of the Delany sisters, and each had long been interested in performing it.

The sisters lived through so many historical events and milestones that Butler and Vincent-Williams and their generation remember.

“These women were born before my lifetime,” Butler said. “They passed away during my lifetime. Who knows where our lives may have crossed. I may have been in the same room with them at one time.”

The issues the sisters faced during their lifetime are still relevant today.

“This play is timeless,” Vincent-Williams said. “The same concerns will be relevant 100 years from now. Voting rights, human rights, the nation’s leadership, and health and wellness should always be on individuals’ and all Americans’ priority list.”