Editing Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander (section)

== Civil Rights Work ==

Alexander's civil rights advocacy addressed the discrimination that her own achievements could not escape. Her work with the Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations, which she chaired during the 1960s, provided institutional platform for addressing the employment, housing, and public accommodation discrimination that Philadelphia's Black residents faced. Her legal expertise, deployed in service of civil rights causes, combined professional skill with moral commitment.<ref name="alexander"/>

Her challenges to segregation in Philadelphia's institutions—hotels, restaurants, theaters—demonstrated that the city's liberal reputation concealed discrimination that sustained effort was required to address. Her persistence, maintained across decades when progress was slow and opposition sustained, showed determination that setbacks could not diminish. The honors she eventually received—the Presidential Medal of Freedom would not come until 1989, months before her death—acknowledged achievement that contemporaries had not adequately recognized.<ref name="wright"/>

Her mentorship of younger lawyers, her example for women and African Americans considering legal careers, and her institutional leadership all extended influence beyond her individual practice. The barriers she had broken, while not eliminating the obstacles others would face, demonstrated that such obstacles could be overcome. Her lifetime of work provided model for combining professional excellence with social commitment.<ref name="alexander"/>