Mark Twain on happiness

"A man cannot be comfortable without his own approval." You are only as happy as you make up your mind to be. The big difference between the happy and comfortable is that in some way or another, the happy person has accepted their circumstances, no matter how great or unfortunate and looks for the good in them. I think that's why the people who have the most aren't the happiest or most satisfied, but the people who know where they are at and aren't chasing more for themselves but live with and on what they have. They are a lot of rich people who have every material right to be happy but always feel they have to exceed everyone around them and waste their lives chasing that dream, while other people are comfortable on a lesser way of life because they like what they do and don't demand any more out of life. Second thought: "Suppose you were an idiot, and suppose you were a member of Congress; but I repeat myself." 'Nough said. http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/m/mark_twain_8.html#ixzz1HvCYk64b

Octavius Catto

http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2011/02/16/a-little-known-advocate-for-civil-rights/

Octavius Catto is another one of those people who fought a good fight for racial equality but never got the name recognition. Apparently Octavius Catto actually shared a stage with famed abolitionist Frederick Douglas and apparently "electrified" the crowd. He worked for integration in everything from baseball to street cars and actually even wrote a book on it. He was actually even killed for his work trying to encourage black voter participation in the 1971 election because the Irish Democratic machine didn't like blacks, especially blacks voting GOP to get a chance.
 Picture from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Octavius_Catto.jpg

7th Avenue and the Delaney's

I think it is really fitting how the Delaney's went from their small town roots to one of the most active and famous streets in one of New York's most well-known neighborhoods. 7th Avenue, home of both the Delaney family apartment and Bessie's dental practice overlooked the center of black culture and developments of the day. Just from looking out the windows they would have seen a wide variety of the churches, clubs and distinguished citizens of Harlem. They were in the center of it all. I can see why Bessie had her office where she did (besides being near family) it was a bustling place and she was right in the middle of the action.

Burden of slavery

In the same way the color of their sin chained blacks to slavery before the Civil war, the color of their skin also chained blacks after the war and their "freeing." Even though Sadie and Bessie are free from the physical chains of slavery and its horrors, they are both still black and to other people they are inferior and second class and fair game. They are, in a sense, chained to their skin color and the discrimination that comes with it- they still have the weight, per se, of color/race warfare on themselves, like in this illustration where this slave is both figuratively and literally forced to bear the weight of the slave ship and slavery. This slave, like Sadie and Bessie, had no choice in the matter and were forced to go through with life chained to the idea that they were second class citizens.
http://www.tfaoi.com/am/10am/10am96.jpg