Delia’s absence from family oral history marked her as conspicuously forgotten

Evidence

I was so grateful to Rich—his research supported so many of my mother’s stories. But I still had so many questions. Why were these images at the Peabody? Who found them? What was that experience like? And who are Jack and Jem and Drana? And what about Delia? Who is she and what happened to her? My mother had never mentioned her name in all the stories. Why hadn’t I heard about her? I was haunted by how intensely sad she looked in those images and felt compelled to act. To do something! — Tamara Lanier, From These Roots, 205