Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander

Who was Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander?

Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander, born Sadie Tanner Mossell, was the first African-American to receive a Ph.D. in economics 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.

She practiced as an attorney from 1927 to 1982. 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, and in 1952 she was appointed to the city's Commission on Human Relations, serving through 1968.