Dr. Sadie Tanner Mossell (Alexander), the first National President of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. was a woman of many firsts. She served her sorority as National President from 1919 until 1923.
Born on January 2, 1898, she graduated from the M Street School (now Dunbar High School) in Washington, D.C. in 1915. She enrolled at the University of Pennsylvania and earned a degree in education. While at Penn she was in contact with the Alpha Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta at Howard University. Five women were needed to charter a chapter and that was not possible at Penn until 1918. Mossell was the President of the Gamma Chapter after it was chartered in 1918. A year later there were four chapters of the sorority and a meeting was called for December of 1919. It was to take place in the women’s dormitory at Howard but Mossell’s uncle, Lewis Baxter Moore, a dean at the institution, let the women use his office for the meeting. At this first convention, the Grand Chapter was established and Mossell served as its first president.
Pittsburgh Courier, April 28, 1928
All the while she was serving her sorority, she was also pursing her education. Her Bachelor’s was followed by a Master’s in economics, also from Penn. She was able to pursue a Ph.D. on the Francis Sergeant Pepper fellowship. When she was awarded her doctoral degree she became the first African American woman to earn a Ph.D. in economics in the U.S. and the second African American woman in the United States to earn a Ph.D.
During her tenure as the National President of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. a scholarship fund was started, chapters were established all over the country and she started the organization’s first national program, May Week. She spoke at several May Week events.
In 1923, she married Raymond Pace Alexander, a lawyer. Dr. Alexander decided to become a lawyer, too, and she was the first African American woman to be admitted to the University of Pennsylvania Law School. In 1927, she became the first African American woman to graduate from the school. And she was also the first African American woman admitted to the Pennsylvania Bar.
She joined her husband’s practice and worked as a lawyer from 1927 until 1982. The Alexander’s specialty was estate and family law but they also took on civil rights cases. Daughters Marie Elizabeth and Rae Pace were born in 1934 and 1937, respectively.
In 1970, she was admitted to Phi Beta Kappa, an opportunity she was denied while an undergraduate at Penn. She was given eight honorary degrees including one from her Alma Mater. In 1980, she received the University of Pennsylvania Distinguished Service Award and a Professorship is named in honor for the Alexanders. And there is a West Philadelphia elementary school named for her, the Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander University of Pennsylvania Partnership School, Penn Alexander for short.
Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander died on November 1, 1989 at the age of 91. She had been suffering from Alzheimer’s disease and succumbed to a bout of pneumonia.
