Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander
Encyclopedia
Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander, born Sarah Tanner Mossell (January 2, 1898 – November 1, 1989), was the first African-American woman to receive a Ph.D.
in the United States
, the first woman to receive a law degree from the University of Pennsylvania Law School
, and the first national president of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated
.
in the African Methodist Episcopal Church
and editor of the Christian Recorder.
Mossell's father was the first African American
to graduate from University of Pennsylvania Law School
, and his brother, Nathan Francis Mossell
(1856–1946), was the first African American
physician to graduate from the University of Pennsylvania
.
. She attended the academic high school, the M Street School, now known as Dunbar High School
, graduating in 1915.
Mossell returned to Philadelphia to study at the School of Education at the University of Pennsylvania
, graduating in 1918. She pursued graduate work in economics, also at the University of Pennsylvania
, earning her master's in 1919. Awarded the Francis Sergeant Pepper fellowship, she was able to continue her studies and in 1921 became the first African American
woman in the United States to earn a Ph.D. She was the first African-American woman admitted to the University of Pennsylvania Law School
. In 1927, she was its first African-American woman graduate, and the first to be admitted to the Pennsylvania Bar.
for two years.
With her marriage, Mossell returned to Philadelphia and entered law school. After passing the bar, she joined her husband's law practice, specializing in estate and family law. They both were active in civil rights
law as well, and Raymond Alexander served on the City Council. Mossell Alexander 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.
In 1928 Mossell Alexander was the first African-American woman appointed as Assistant City Solicitor for the City of Philadelphia, serving to 1930; she was reappointed from 1934 to 1938. She was also active in numerous professional and civic organizations. From 1943-1947 she was the first woman to serve as secretary of the National Bar Association
. Because of her work in civil rights
, she was appointed to the Commission on Human Relations of the City of Philadelphia in 1952, serving through 1968.
.
They had two children: Mary Elizabeth Alexander (born 1934), who married Melvin Brown; and Rae Pace Alexander (born 1937) who married Archie C. Epps III, and later married Thomas Minter
.
, serving from 1919 to 1923.
She served on Harry Truman's Committee on Human Rights in 1947
Ph.D.
A Ph.D. is a Doctor of Philosophy, an academic degree.Ph.D. may also refer to:* Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*Piled Higher and Deeper, a web comic strip*PhD: Phantasy Degree, a Korean comic series* PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...
in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, the first woman to receive a law degree from the University of Pennsylvania Law School
University of Pennsylvania Law School
The University of Pennsylvania Law School, located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is the law school of the University of Pennsylvania. A member of the Ivy League, it is among the oldest and most selective law schools in the nation. It is currently ranked 7th overall by U.S. News & World Report,...
, and the first national president of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated
Delta Sigma Theta
Delta Sigma Theta is a non-profit Greek-lettered sorority of college-educated women who perform public service and place emphasis on the African American community. Delta Sigma Theta Sorority was founded on January 13, 1913 by twenty-two collegiate women at Howard University...
.
Early life
She was born as Sarah Tanner Mossell on January 2, 1898 in Philadelphia to Aaron Albert Mossell II and Mary Louisa Tanner (1867-?). Her siblings include Aaron Albert Mossell III (1893–1975), who became a pharmacist; and Elizabeth Mossell (1894–1975), who became a Dean of Women at Virginia State College. Her maternal grandfather was Benjamin Tucker Tanner (1835–1923), a bishopBishop
A bishop is an ordained or consecrated member of the Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight. Within the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox Churches, in the Assyrian Church of the East, in the Independent Catholic Churches, and in the...
in the African Methodist Episcopal Church
African Methodist Episcopal Church
The African Methodist Episcopal Church, usually called the A.M.E. Church, is a predominantly African American Methodist denomination based in the United States. It was founded by the Rev. Richard Allen in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1816 from several black Methodist congregations in the...
and editor of the Christian Recorder.
Mossell's father was the first African American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
to graduate from University of Pennsylvania Law School
University of Pennsylvania Law School
The University of Pennsylvania Law School, located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is the law school of the University of Pennsylvania. A member of the Ivy League, it is among the oldest and most selective law schools in the nation. It is currently ranked 7th overall by U.S. News & World Report,...
, and his brother, Nathan Francis Mossell
Nathan Francis Mossell
Nathan Francis Mossell was the first African American graduate of the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in 1882. He did post-graduate training at hospitals in Philadelphia and London. In 1888 he was the first black physician elected as member of the Philadelphia County Medical Society...
(1856–1946), was the first African American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
physician to graduate from the University of Pennsylvania
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution...
.
Education
During her high school years, Mossell lived in Washington, DC with her uncle, Lewis Baxter Moore, who was dean at Howard UniversityHoward University
Howard University is a federally chartered, non-profit, private, coeducational, nonsectarian, historically black university located in Washington, D.C., United States...
. She attended the academic high school, the M Street School, now known as Dunbar High School
Dunbar High School (Washington, D.C.)
Dunbar High School is a public secondary school located in Washington, D.C., United States. The school is located in the Truxton Circle neighborhood of Northwest Washington, two blocks from the intersection of New Jersey and New York Avenues...
, graduating in 1915.
Mossell returned to Philadelphia to study at the School of Education at the University of Pennsylvania
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution...
, graduating in 1918. She pursued graduate work in economics, also at the University of Pennsylvania
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution...
, earning her master's in 1919. Awarded the Francis Sergeant Pepper fellowship, she was able to continue her studies and in 1921 became the first African American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
woman in the United States to earn a Ph.D. She was the first African-American woman admitted to the University of Pennsylvania Law School
University of Pennsylvania Law School
The University of Pennsylvania Law School, located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is the law school of the University of Pennsylvania. A member of the Ivy League, it is among the oldest and most selective law schools in the nation. It is currently ranked 7th overall by U.S. News & World Report,...
. In 1927, she was its first African-American woman graduate, and the first to be admitted to the Pennsylvania Bar.
Career
Finding it difficult to get work in Philadelphia, Mossell worked for the black-owned North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company in Durham, North CarolinaDurham, North Carolina
Durham is a city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is the county seat of Durham County and also extends into Wake County. It is the fifth-largest city in the state, and the 85th-largest in the United States by population, with 228,330 residents as of the 2010 United States census...
for two years.
With her marriage, Mossell returned to Philadelphia and entered law school. After passing the bar, she joined her husband's law practice, specializing in estate and family law. They both were active in civil rights
Civil rights
Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from unwarranted infringement by governments and private organizations, and ensure one's ability to participate in the civil and political life of the state without discrimination or repression.Civil rights include...
law as well, and Raymond Alexander served on the City Council. Mossell Alexander 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.
In 1928 Mossell Alexander was the first African-American woman appointed as Assistant City Solicitor for the City of Philadelphia, serving to 1930; she was reappointed from 1934 to 1938. She was also active in numerous professional and civic organizations. From 1943-1947 she was the first woman to serve as secretary of the National Bar Association
National Bar Association
The National Bar Association was established in 1925 as the "Negro Bar Association" after Gertrude Rush, George H. Woodson, S. Joe Brown, James B. Morris, and Charles P. Howard, Sr. were denied membership in the American Bar Association. It represents the interests of African-American attorneys in...
. Because of her work in civil rights
Civil rights
Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from unwarranted infringement by governments and private organizations, and ensure one's ability to participate in the civil and political life of the state without discrimination or repression.Civil rights include...
, she was appointed to the Commission on Human Relations of the City of Philadelphia in 1952, serving through 1968.
Marriage and children
Mossell married Raymond Pace Alexander (1897–1974) on November 29, 1923 in her parents' home on Diamond Street in North Philadelphia, with the ceremony performed by her father. Alexander had graduated from Harvard Law SchoolHarvard Law School
Harvard Law School is one of the professional graduate schools of Harvard University. Located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, it is the oldest continually-operating law school in the United States and is home to the largest academic law library in the world. The school is routinely ranked by the U.S...
.
They had two children: Mary Elizabeth Alexander (born 1934), who married Melvin Brown; and Rae Pace Alexander (born 1937) who married Archie C. Epps III, and later married Thomas Minter
Thomas Minter
Thomas Kendall Minter was an education official who served in the United States government and the government of New York City....
.
Civic life
Alexander was the first national president of Delta Sigma ThetaDelta Sigma Theta
Delta Sigma Theta is a non-profit Greek-lettered sorority of college-educated women who perform public service and place emphasis on the African American community. Delta Sigma Theta Sorority was founded on January 13, 1913 by twenty-two collegiate women at Howard University...
, serving from 1919 to 1923.
She served on Harry Truman's Committee on Human Rights in 1947
Legacy and honors
- 1948, the National Urban LeagueNational Urban LeagueThe National Urban League , formerly known as the National League on Urban Conditions Among Negroes, is a nonpartisan civil rights organization based in New York City that advocates on behalf of African Americans and against racial discrimination in the United States. It is the oldest and largest...
featured Alexander as "Woman of the Year" in its comic book of Negro Heroes. - 1974, was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Pennsylvania, her first of seven such honors
- An elementary school in West PhiladelphiaWest PhiladelphiaWest Philadelphia, nicknamed West Philly, is a section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Though there is no official definition of its boundaries, it is generally considered to reach from the western shore of the Schuylkill River, to City Line Avenue to the northwest, Cobbs Creek to the southwest, and...
, the Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander University of Pennsylvania Partnership School ("Penn Alexander"), is named after her. The public school was developed in partnership with the University, which supports the school financially and academically.
External links
- "Imagining Sadie", a Penn Law student film about Alexander