"Sadie Tanner Mossell (January 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 a law degree from from the University of Pennsylvania Law School,and the first national president of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority,Incorporated.She was born in Philadelphia to Aaron Albert Mossell 2,(1863-1951) and Mary Louisa Tanner (1867-?).Her birth was Sarah Tanner Mossell,and she went by the name Sadie.Her siblings include Aaron Albert Mossell 3,(1893-1975),who became a pharmacist;and Elizabeth Mossell (1894-1975),who became a Dean of Women at Virginia State College.Her maternal grandfather Benjamin Tucker Tanner (1835-1923),a bishop in the African Methodist Episcopal  Church (AME) and editor of  the Christian Recorder.Bishop Tanner and his wife had seven children,including Henry Ossawa Tanner (1859-1937),who became a noted painter,and Hallie Tanner Johnson,a physician who established the Nurses'School and Hospital at the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama.Sadie father was the first African American to graduate from the University of 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.During her high school years,Sadie lived in Washington DC with her uncle Lewis Baxter Moore,who was dean at Howard University.She attended the academic high school,the M Street School,now known as Dunbar High School,graduating in 1915.Sadie returned to Philadelphia to study at the School of Education at the University of Pennsylvania,graduating in 1918.She purchased graduate work in economics,also at the University of Pennsylvania,earing her master's in 1919.Awarded the Francis Sergent Pepper fellowship,she was able to continue her studies and in 1921 became the first African American woman in the United States in the United States to earn a Ph.D.Sadie was the first African-American woman admitted to the University of Pennsylvania Law School.In 1927,she was its first African-American woman to graduate,and the first to be admitted to the Pennsylvania Bar.Finding it difficult to get work in Philadelphia,she worked for the black-owned North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company in Durham,North Carolina for two years.With her marriage,Sadie 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.She worked in her husband's law firm from 1927-1959,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 Atkinson,Myers,and Archie as a general counsel.She retired from 1934 to 1938.Sadie was active in numerous professional and civil 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 Realtion of the City of Philadelphia in 1952,serving through 1968.She married Raymond Pace Alexander (1897-1974) on November 29,1923 in her parents'home on Diamon Street in North Philadelphia,with the ceremony peformed by her father.Raymond had graduate from Harvard Law School.They had two children:Mary Elizabeth Alexander (born 1934) who married Melvin Brown;and Rae Pace Alexander (born1937)who married Archie C.Epps 3,and later married Thomas Minter.Sadie was

the first national president of Delta Sigma Theta,serving from 1919 to 1923.During her five years as grand president,she led the creation of the structure and procedures of the organizations.May week was created in 1921,and continues to be an integral part of Delta Sigma Theta tradation.She also served on many boards,civil committees,and  commissions.She held office in many local and national organizations including:President Harry S.Truman'sCommittee on Human Rights in 1947,whose report served as the basis for his civil rights actions.Her ability to lead continued to be recognized,and in 1978  she was appointed chair of the White House Conference on Aging by President Jimmy Carter,to address social and economic needs of the eledery.Sadie died after being ill with Alzheimer's and Parkinson's for several years.She is buried in West Laurel Cemetery.