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Hidden Figures: Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander

2,577 views · Published 13 April 2017 · 10:17 · Indexed 19 October 2026

Channel: Sensei Aishitemasu · 2017 · Entertainment

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Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander (January 2, 1898 – November 1, 1989), was the first African-American woman to receive a Ph.D. in economics in the United States (1921), and the first woman to receive a law degree from the University of Pennsylvania Law School. She was the first African-American woman to practice law in Pennsylvania. She was the first national president of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, serving from 1919 to 1923.

In 1946 she was appointed to the President's Committee on Civil Rights established by Harry Truman. She was the first African-American woman appointed as Assistant City Solicitor for the City of Philadelphia. She and her husband were both active in civil rights. In 1952 she was appointed to the city's Commission on Human Relations, serving through 1968. She was President of John F. Kennedy Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law (1963).

In 1928 she 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. From 1943 to 1947 she was the first woman to serve as secretary of the National Bar Association. She was appointed to the Commission on Human Relations of the City of Philadelphia, serving from 1952 to 1968. In 1959, when her husband was appointed to the Court of Common Pleas in Philadelphia, she continued to practice law on her own. In 1976, she joined the firm of Atkinson, Myers, and Archie as a general counsel, where she stayed until her retirement.

Mossell Alexander died on November 1, 1989 at Cathedral Village in Andorra, Philadelphia, from pneumonia as a complication from Alzheimer's disease. She was buried in West Laurel Hill Cemetery.

#SadieTannerMossellAlexander #HiddenFigures

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Links: 

'Sadie T. M. Alexander, 91, Dies; Lawyer and Civil Rights Advocate:'
http://www.nytimes.com/1989/11/03/obituaries/sadie-t-m-alexander-91-dies-lawyer-and-civil-rights-advocate.html

'Alexander, Sadie Tanner Mossell (1898-1989):'
http://www.blackpast.org/aah/alexander-sadie-tanner-mossell-1898-1989

'20 FACTS ABOUT SADIE TANNER MOSSELL ALEXANDER, A REAL “FIRST” LADY:'
https://blackthen.com/20-facts-about-sadie-tanner-mossell-alexander-a-real-first-lady/

'Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander:'
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Sadie-Tanner-Mossell-Alexander

'Alexander, Sadie Tanner Mossell:'
http://www.encyclopedia.com/history/historians-and-chronicles/historians-miscellaneous-biographies/sadie-tanner-mossell

'Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander:'
http://www.upenn.edu/almanac/v49/n02/sadie_timeline.html

'Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander (1898-1989) Historical Marker:'
http://explorepahistory.com/hmarker.php?markerId=1-A-282

Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander (Wikipedia):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sadie_Tanner_Mossell_Alexander

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