Sadie Tanner Mossell was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. A year after she was born, her father abandoned the family and moved to the UK. During high school, she moved to Washington, DC, where she lived with her relatives and attended M Street School. At 17, she returned to Philadelphia to study Education at the University of Pennsylvania. There, she suffered discrimination from both students and professors, and though she graduated with honors, she was denied joining Phi Beta Kappa. She continued her studies, and at 23, received her M.A in Economics, followed by a Ph.D. – becoming the second African-American woman in the USA to earn a doctoral degree and the first to receive a Ph.D. in Economics. Despite her academic accolades, she struggled to get a professorship. Unable to find a job in Philadelphia, she moved to Durham, North Carolina, and worked for the North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company. At the time, she also served as the first national president of Delta Sigma Theta – the black women’s sorority. In 1923, she married the lawyer and civil rights leader Raymond Pace Alexander, and the couple moved back to Philadelphia. Once again, she had difficulties getting a job in the city, so she stayed home, concentrated on volunteering for a year, and then decided to go to law school. At the age of 26, Alexander became the first African-American woman to study at the University of Pennsylvania Law School, and two years later she became the first to graduate and to be admitted to the Pennsylvania bar – the first African-American person to hold both a Ph.D. and a J.D. Afterward, she joined her husband’s law firm as a partner, making them one of the early married legal teams in the USA. As an attorney, Alexander advocated against segregation, racial discrimination, and employment inequality. As a partner, she helped draft the Pennsylvania state Public Accommodations Law of 1935, prohibiting discrimination in public places. At 30, Alexander added another “First” to her list when she was appointed the first African-American woman Assistant City Solicitor for the City of Philadelphia. During the two inconsecutive terms in this position (1928-1930 and 1934-1938), she established a legal aid bureau that assisted African-Americans who could not afford attorneys. In 1930, Alexander served as secretary for the National Urban League, a position she held for 27 years. In 1943, Alexander was chosen as secretary of the National Bar Association, becoming, once again, the first woman in this position. In 1947, President Harry Truman appointed her to his Committee on Human Rights, and in 1952 she began her 12 years term on Philadelphia’s Commission on Human Relations. At the age of 61, after her husband was appointed to the Court of Common Pleas in Philadelphia, Alexander opened her law firm, continuing to practice law for the next 15 years. At 78, she joined Atkinson, Myers, and Archie law firm as a general counsel until her retirement at 84. Alexander passed away at the age of 91 from complications of Alzheimer’s disease. Read more...