Sadie Alexander: Pioneering Justice Through Education and Advocacy

“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 Alexander

Sadie Alexander came from a family with a rich history of academic achievement. Her father was the first black American to graduate from the University of Pennsylvania Law School. One uncle was the first black American to graduate from the University of Pennsylvania Medical School, and another became the Dean of Education at Howard University. She would follow the lineage, becoming the first black American to earn a Ph.D. in Economics and the first black American woman to earn a law degree from the University of Pennsylvania, among other notable academic achievements.

But while she would achieve many firsts in education, Sadie’s lasting legacy stemmed from her impactful work as a lawyer and economist, where she fought for equal rights while taking an ardent, vocal stance on the importance of black Americans’ achievements and contributions to the nation’s progress. This latter effort came at a particularly important time in U.S. history, as the eugenics movement, which aimed in part to show the inferiority of black Americans, had gained popularity.

Though she wouldn’t achieve the same fame, some described Sadie as one of the most important civil rights leaders in modern history, mentioning her amongst people such as Frederick Douglass, Martin Luther King Jr., and Sojourner Truth. She passed away at age 91 in 1989.

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Note: click here to read a snapshot biography of another civil rights leader, Medgar Evers.

Sources:
– Alexander, Sadie T. M.. Democracy, Race, and Justice: The Speeches and Writings of Sadie T. M. Alexander. United Kingdom, Yale University Press, 2021.
– Banks, Nina. “Retrospectives: Sadie T.M. Alexander: Black Women and a ‘Taste of Freedom in the Economic World.’” The Journal of Economic Perspectives, vol. 36, no. 4, 2022, pp. 205–20. JSTOR,  https://www.jstor.org/stable/27171137. Accessed 9 Apr. 2024.
– Marceau, photographer. Sadie T.M. Alexander (1898-1989), B.S. 1918, A.M. 1919, Ph.D. 1921, LL.B. 1927, in Pearls and White Graduation Dress, Portrait Photograph. photograph, 1921. UPT 50 A374S, Alexander Family Papers, Box 76, folder 15, JSTOR, https://jstor.org/stable/community.22108837. Accessed 10 Apr. 2024.