Unfortunately, he struggled to provide for the family and deserted them a year after Sadie’s birth.
After graduating in 1927, she joined her husband’s law firm, becoming one of the earliest husband-wife legal teams in the United States.
As a Philadelphia lawyer, she advocated against racial discrimination, segregation, and employment inequality.
Between 1928 and 1938 she was Assistant City Solicitor for the City of Philadelphia and formed a legal aid bureau to assist African Americans who could not afford lawyers. Alexander’s focus was frequently on racial and economic justice for the working class, especially for working men and women.
In 1947, President Harry S. Truman appointed Alexander to the President’s committee on the Civil Rights of All Races and Faiths, making her the first black woman to serve on a presidential commission.
In 1948, the National Urban League chose Alexander as its “Woman of the Year” and presented her story in a comic book for black children.
In 1970 Sadie Alexander finally was elected into Phi Beta Kappa.
In 1978, President Jimmy Carter appointed her chairperson, at the age of eighty-one, of the White House Conference on Aging. However, President Reagan removed her from the position in 1981, before the conference took place. Alexander continued to practice law in Philadelphia until she turned eighty-five.
Sadie died from complications of Alzheimer’s disease in Philadelphia in 1989 at the age of 91. Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander, a true trailblazer! We salute you!