Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander: The first of many firsts Although she descended from two distinguished Black families, Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander still encountered racism, sexism, hatred, and bigotry to get her Penn education. In a 1977 interview with oral historian Walter M. Phillips, she recalled her first year as an undergraduate in the School of Education: “Not one woman spoke to me in class or when I passed [them] on the walks to College Hall or the library. Can you imagine looking for classrooms and asking persons [along] the way, only to find the same unresponsive person you asked for directions seated in the classroom, which you entered late because you could not find your way?”