Anderson, Elizabeth Mossell, 1894-1975

<p>As a young man he was superintendent of the Sunday School at Mother Bethel A.M.E. Church in Philadelphia. In 1890 Aaron and Mary Louisa Tanner (1865/6-1935) were married by her father, Bishop Benjamin Tucker Tanner, in the Tanner family home at 2908 Diamond Street. This house was also the home of artist Henry Osawa Tanner and the future birthplace of Aaron and Mary’s three children — Aaron Albert Mossell (1893-1959), Elizabeth Mossell Anderson (1894-1975), Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander (1898-1985). In 1899, when Sadie was only a year old, Aaron Mossell left the city and his wife and children. Aaron and Mary were divor</p>

<p>Aaron Mossell became a resident of Cardiff, Wales, when he died on February 1, 1951. His son Aaron had become a pharmacist in Philadelphia. Elizabeth served as Dean of Women at Virginia State College and later at Wilberforce University in Ohio. Sadie was the highest-achieving member of the family. As a young woman she was the first African American to receive a Ph.D. in Economics, and then the first African American woman to earn a Penn law degree and to be admitted to the Pennsylvania Bar. During her lifetime, she and her husband Raymond Pace Alexander became nationally known lawyers and civil rights leaders.</p>

Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander’s elder sister, Elizabeth Mossell Anderson (B.S. in Ed., 1939) (called variously “Beth,” “Babs,” or “Babo” in correspondence) served as Dean of Women at Virginia State College and later at Wilberforce University (Central State College), Ohio. Upon her retirement in 1964, she came to live with the Alexanders in Philadelphia and resided with them until her death in 1975.

<p>Aaron Albert Mossell II (1863 - February 1, 1951) was the first African-American to graduate from the University of Pennsylvania Law School.[1]</p>

<p>Mossell married Mary Louisa Tanner in Philadelphia around 1890. They had three children.[2] Aaron Albert Tanner III (1893-1959) became a pharmacist in Philadelphia. Elizabeth Mossell Anderson (1894–1975) became Dean of Women at Virginia State College and later at Wilberforce University in Ohio. Sadie Tanner Mossell (1898–1985), also graduated from Penn and served as an editor of the Law Review.,[5] became a practicing lawyer, Assistant City Solicitor and activist on civil rights issues</p>