Her Story: Sadie Alexander

Georgia as Sadie Mossel Alexander, the first African-American woman to earn a Ph.D
Georgia as Sadie Mossell Alexander, the first African-American woman to earn a Ph.D

Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander (1898-1989), was the first African-American woman to earn a Ph.D in economics in the United States in 1921. She went on to become the first women to receive a law degree form the University of Pennsylvania Law School. She was the very first African-American woman to practice law in Pennsylvania.

Mossell practiced law for 55 years and was active in civil rights law. She has been recognized as one of Philadelphia leading citizens.

“I never looked for anybody to hold the door open for me. I knew well that the only way I could get that door open was to knock it down: because I knocked all of them down.”

-Sadie Mossell Alexander

Read more about her amazing accomplishments here:

https://almanac.upenn.edu/archive/v49/n02/sadie_timeline.html

Please share these women’s stories with the world, help us make HER story a bigger part of history.



About The Author


shaunaupp

Mother, Photographer, Wisecracker.... not necessarily in that order.

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