Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander
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Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander (January 2, 1898 - November 1, 1989) was one of the first African Americans to receive a Ph.D. in the United States and the first woman to receive a law degree from the University of Pennsylvania Law School.
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[edit] Birth
She was born in Philadelphia in 1898 to Aaron Albert Mossell II (1863-1951) and Mary Louise Tanner (1867-?). Her birth name was Sarah Tanner Mossell and she went by the name Sadie. Her siblings include: Aaron Albert Mossell III (1893-1975); and Elizabeth Mossell (1894-1975) who married an Anderson.
[edit] Other family members
Her maternal grandfather was Benjamin Tucker Tanner (1835-1923), a bishop in the African Methodist Episcopal Church, editor of the Christian Recorder, and was also the founding editor of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. Bishop Tanner had seven children, the most famous was the painter Henry Ossawa Tanner (1859-1937). Another daughter of Bishop Tanner was Hallie Tanner Johnson who became a physician and established the Nurses' School and Hospital at the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. Sadie's relative on the Mossell side was her father's brother: Dr. Nathan Francis Mossell (1856-1946) who was the first African American physician to graduate from the University of Pennsylvania.
[edit] Education
When she reached high school, she went to live in Washington, DC with her uncle, Lewis Baxter Moore, who was dean at Howard University. She attended the M Street High School in Washington and graduated in 1915. She then attended the School of Education at the University of Pennsylvania, and graduated in 1918. She entered the Graduate School at the University of Pennsylvania to study economics. In 1921, she became the first African American woman in the U.S. to obtain a Ph.D. She went to work for the black-owned North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company in Durham, North Carolina for two years. In 1923, shortly after Raymond, her future husband was admitted to the Bar and opened his practice, she returned to Philadelphia to be married. In the fall of 1924, she entered the University of Pennsylvania Law School. She became the first African American woman to graduate from that institution and the first African American woman admitted to the Pennsylvania Bar in 1927. Later, she joined her husband's law practice, specializing in estate and family law. She was appointed Assistant City Solicitor for the City of Philadelphia and held that position from 1928 to 1930 and from 1934 to 1938.
[edit] Marriage and children
She married Raymond Pace Alexander (1897-1974) on November 29, 1923 in her parent's home on Diamond Street in North Philadelphia. Together they had the following children: Mary Elizabeth Alexander (1934- ) who married Melvin Brown; and Rae Pace Alexander (1937- ) who married Archie C. Epps III and later married Thomas Minter.
[edit] Later career
She served on many boards, committees, and commissions and held office in many local and national organizations including: President Harry Truman's Committee on Human Rights in 1947 and on the Commission on Human Relations of the City of Philadelphia from 1952 until 1968. She worked in her husband's law firm from 1927 until 1959, when he was appointed to the Court of Common Pleas in Philadelphia. She practiced law on her own until 1976, when she joined the firm of Atkinson, Myers, and Archie as a general counsel. She retired in 1982, and died in 1989.
[edit] Timeline
- 1898 Sadie Tanner Mossell was born on January 2 in Philadelphia to Aaron Albert Mossell and Mary Louise Tanner .
- 1916 She graduated from M Street High School in Washington, DC, and entered the University of Pennsylvania.
- 1918 She completed her undergraduate program at the University of Pennsylvania and was awarded a bachelor of science degree in education with senior honors.
- 1919 She earned a master of arts degree in economics at Penn and was awarded the Francis Sergeant Pepper Fellowship in economics, which enabled her to study for her doctorate.
- 1921 She became the first African American woman in the nation to earn a Ph.D. in economics. Her dissertation was The Standard of Living Among One Hundred Negro Migrant Families in Philadelphia.
- 1921 Was elected the first president of the Grand Chapter, the national organization of the African-American sorority, Delta Sigma Theta.
- 1921-1923 She worked as assistant actuary at the North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company in Durham, North Carolina.
- 1923 She returned to Philadelphia where she married Raymond Pace Alexander, the brother of her good friend and sorority sister from undergraduate school, Virginia Alexander.
- 1924 She became the first African American woman to enroll in University of Pennsylvania's School of Law, where her father Aaron Albert Mossell had been the first African American to graduate. She was also the first African American woman to serve as associate editor of the Law Review.
- 1927 She became the first African American woman to earn a law degree at Penn, pass the bar and practice law in Pennsylvania. Joined her husband's Center City Philadelphia law firm, specializing in estate and family law.
- 1927-1931 She became the first African American woman to serve as assistant city solicitor of Philadelphia.
- 1936-1940 She served her second term as assistant city solicitor of Philadelphia.
- 1943-1947 She became the first woman to serve as secretary of the National Bar Association.
- 1946-1965 She served as a member of the Philadelphia Fellowship Commission.
- 1947 Appointed to the President's Committee on Civil Rights by President Harry S. Truman. The committee's report, "To Secure These Rights," served as the foundation of the civil-rights movement in America and was the basis for future civil-rights policy decisions and legislation.
- 1948 Named Woman of the Year in "Negro Heroes" a comic book published by the National Urban League in conjunction with the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority.
- 1949 Chaired a special committee of the Fellowship Commission set up to ensure that a new city charter would include provisions guaranteeing equal treatment and equal opportunity in the city's administration.
- 1952 Chairwoman of the Fellowship Commission committee, drafted a section of the Home Rule Charter of 1952, calling for the formation of a Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations.
- 1959 Opened private law practice after her husband was appointed judge in the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas, the first African-American to serve in this position. A quarter of her practice was dedicated to civil and probate work, while the rest of the time she focused on domestic relations, divorce, adoption and juvenile care.
- 1974 Awarded her fifth degree at the University of Pennsylvania, an honorary doctor of laws degree. This was the first of seven honorary degrees by colleges and universities.
- 1976 Retired from the active practice of law but joined the firm of Atkinson, Myers and Archie of counsel.
- 1978 Appointed chairperson of the White House Conference on Aging by Jimmy Carter
- 1989 Died on November 1
