July 30, 2025
Molly McVety/PhillyVoice
Sculptor Vinnie Bagwell stands in front of her design for her statue of Sadie T. M. Alexander, which will be displayed in front of Philadelphia's Municipal Services Building in the fall of 2026.
The final design for Philadelphia's Sadie T. M. Alexander statue was unveiled in front of City Hall on Wednesday morning as her family members reflected on her legacy as a scholar, activist and trailblazer.
The design was selected from a group of five finalists by the city's public art selection committee after more than a month of deliberations. The committee received more than 1,000 responses from the public.
The statue design, titled "The First Lady of the Law: Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander," was submitted by artist Vinnie Bagwell. It depicts Alexander following her law school graduation ceremony at the University of Pennsylvania. Her graduation robe partially covers a flowing dress. A straw hat adorned with flowers sits atop her head as a symbol of her "dignity, power and perseverance," and the U.S. Constitution in her hand is opened to a page showing the 14th Amendment's Equal Protection Clause.
Beneath the statue, a black granite pedestal features a quote from Alexander, stating "The future of our nation depends upon our willingness to uphold democracy and justice for all."
The statue's design was unanimously chosen by the committee's 19 panelists after it the public rated it the best option during a nearly three-week public input period.
Once completed, the 9-foot-tall statue will be placed outside the Municipal Services Building – near where the statue of former Mayor Frank Rizzo once stood. That monument was removed in 2020 in the wake of the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. The Rizzo statue was seen by many as a symbol of racism and policy brutality, and had been vandalized several times in the years before it was taken down.
'The First Lady of the Law: Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander' statue design from Vinnie Bagwell.
The Alexander statue, announced last November, is expected to be completed in the fall of 2026. It will be just the third sculpture in Philly depicting a Black woman. The other two — of abolitionist Harriet Tubman and activist Blanche Nixon — are currently in the works.
Alexander's daughter, Rae Alexander-Minter, expressed her excitement for the statue and what she hopes it will represent for future generations of young learners.
"Here's a woman who was lambasted, who was in racial isolation for most of her doctoral work at the University of Pennsylvania," Alexander-Minter said. "I learned so much more about my mother and her strength. ... Every child who will see this statue, it was they that she worked for."
Alexander, who was born in Philadelphia in 1898, was the first African American person to receive a PhD in economics and was the first Black woman to graduate from Penn's law school in 1927.
Alexander was the first Black woman to serve as assistant city solicitor for Philadelphia, and sat on the Committee on Civil Rights under former President Harry Truman. She also was the secretary for the National Bar Association and was a founding member of the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law.
"Alexander's story is not just Black history or women's history, it's American history, and it belongs in the public square," Bagwell said during the ceremony. "I want young girls, especially Black girls, to stand before her likeness and see a mirror. I want them to know you belong, you matter and you, too, can lead."
