Using the lyrics of songs made famous by artists like Ma Rainey, Billie Holiday, Lena Horn, Erykah Badu, Jill Scott, Beyoncé and many others, Sistas tells of the struggles, the joy and the triumphs of being Black and of being woman in America, as told through the life of one woman and the women in her family. Moving from the days of Jim Crow to the present, the narrative is presented through songs like "Strange Fruit," "Society's Child," and "Taint Nobody’s Business," right up to the present with more contemporary songs of worth and independence such as "I Am Not My Hair" by India Arie, Alicia Keyes' "A Woman’s Worth," and "Golden" by Jill Scott.