REMEMBERING

January 26, 1999

Remembering two American originals: a look at the lives of 'Sadie' Delany -- the first African American woman permitted to teach home economics in white New York City schools -- and Robert Shaw -- the renowned choral conductor and long-time head of the Atlanta Symphony.

JIM LEHRER: Finally tonight, remembering two American originals, and to Phil Ponce. PHIL PONCE: Sarah Delaney, who died yesterday at age 109, had an extraordinary life's tale to tell, and with her sister, Elizabeth, she told it in a 1993 memoir, "Having our Say: The Delaney Sisters' First 100 Years." The best-selling book was written with journalist Amy Hill Hearth and later turned into a play. Their father was born into slavery in Georgia, but rose to become the first African-American bishop in the Episcopal church. Their mother was born free in Virginia. By the turn of the century, the Delaneys and their ten college-educated children were one of the nation's most prominent black families. Ms. Delaney, known as "Sadie," earned her masters in education from Columbia university in 1925, and later became the first African-American woman to teach home economics in white New York City schools. Younger sister Elizabeth, known as "Bessie," was the second black woman licensed to be a dentist in New York State. Dr. Delaney died in 1995, when she was 104. Charlayne Hunter-Gault spoke with the Delaney sisters in 1994. In this excerpt, Sadie Delaney tells how she handled discrimination in the North when she first went to get a teaching job. SARAH DELANEY: (1994) When I got appointed, you had three years to get appointed after you passed this examination, which was no easy job for a colored person. And they wrote me. They took the three top on the list. And of course, if you were colored, they'd just skip over you, and take the other two. And so, my brother knew a fellow that worked down at the Board of Education, and he told Hubert - ELIZABETH DELANEY: Who was colored. SARAH DELANEY: Yes, he said, "You tell your sister, when they write for her to come for an interview at the school," he says, "don't go." He said, "They won't know she's colored, and then they'll appoint her, and then when you go up there and you're appointed, you can't do nothing about it." So I made an excuse, and I didn't go. And they just appointed me. And when I appeared there, this colored girl, they could do nothing about it, because I was appointed. CHARLAYNE HUNTER-GAULT: When you look back, what do you think has been harder, being black or being a woman? SARAH DELANEY: Black -- being black, being black. PHIL PONCE: A nephew said Sadie Delaney died peacefully in her sleep. (MUSIC IN BACKGROUND) PHIL PONCE: The world of music also suffered a loss yesterday. Robert Shaw was widely regarded as the nation's preeminent choral conductor. He first gained fame as head of the Robert Shaw Chorale, which he founded in 1948. He held posts at the San Diego Symphony and Cleveland Orchestra, and was music director and conductor of the Atlanta Symphony from 1967 until 1988. He won 14 Grammies for conducting, and was known for fostering the careers of many singers and teachers, and for his strict attention to detail, as seen in this 1997 rehearsal footage. ROBERT SHAW: We're responsible for every - every 32nd value of every quarter. We're responsible to do something with it. The responsibility does not end when the note begins. We have a responsibility to either crescendo or diminuendo, or to stop singing or to do a crescendo and diminuendo and stop singing. And we're responsible for every 16th to 32nd note of every quarter note. There's something must happen at each instant in the life of that note. And you somehow think -- it's like fathers who start a child and then don't give a damn about what happens to the child. You start the note and then you don't take care of it. You don't give it a finish or a middle life. You know. You just from then on it's on its own. And now and one, two and - PHIL PONCE: The end result: A Carnegie Hall performance of Mendelsohn's "Elijah." Here's the finale. (CARNEGIE HALL PERFORMANCE EXCERPT) PHIL PONCE: Robert Shaw was 82 years old.