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The year was 1921, graduation day at the University of Pennsylvania.

There were photographers from all over the world taking my picture.

And I can well remember marching down Broad Street from Herkenteel Hall to the Academy of Music.

This is Dr. Sadie Alexander. It's one of the few recordings that exist of her.

And she was recounting a monumental event in her life and in the field of economics.

It was a great occasion because I was the first black woman in the United States to qualify and to receive the degree.

We now know that she was the first black person to get a PhD in economics in the United States.

100 years ago.

All of the glory of that occasion faded however quickly when I tried to get a position.

The glory of that occasion faded because Dr. Sadie Alexander was essentially rejected by the field of economics.

She was completely shut out of positions appropriate for her level of education when she went and tried to get a job.

My major professors in economics and so forth had come not only to the city but the country trying to get me placed in the corner,

I knew I wouldn't be able to place myself.

So I said to him, I think I'm going to law school.

Sadie Alexander did in fact go to law school and went on to become a successful attorney.

...