Family Affair

When Cameron Lewis steps onto the floor of the Palestra he will inherit not only a great basketball tradition but will also continue a great family tradition at Penn.

Lewis is the great-grandson, through his mother's side, of Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander, a Penn alumna and the first black female to earn a Ph.D.

Alexander is one of many notable relatives of Lewis who has rewritten history at Penn.

The Alexander family is filled with historic firsts. In 1888, Alexander's father and Lewis' great-great-grandfather, Aaron Mossell, became the first black person to graduate from the Penn Law School. Six years earlier, Mossell's brother and Alexander's uncle, Nathan Francis Mossell, was the first black graduate from the Penn Medical School.

The incredible list of achievement does not end there. In 1896, Alexander's uncle, Lewis Baxter Moore, was one of the first African Americans to earn a Ph.D. at Penn, setting the path for Sadie Alexander, who lived with Moore while she attended high school in Washington. Moore was the dean of Howard University.

Sadie Alexander finished her distinguished career at Penn with four degrees. She earned her Bachelors of Science in education in just three years, graduating in 1918. She obtained her Masters in 1919 and her Ph.D. in economics in 1921.

Alexander came back to Penn in 1924 to study law and graduated in 1927. She was the first African-American female to graduate from Penn Law as well as the first African-American woman to pass the Pennsylvania Bar.

Lewis might have fit in to such a rich history by becoming the first Penn athlete in the family. However, that distinction too had already been taken. Lewis' great-grandfather and Alexander's husband, Raymond Pace Alexander, a 1920 Wharton graduate, was on the track team.

However, it is relatively certain that Lewis is the first member of his family to be on the basketball team. The Palestra, which will be his home for the next four years, opened in the same year that Sadie, his great-grandmother, graduated from the Law School.

Both the Palestra and Alexander have been part of great accomplishments since that time. The Palestra has witnessed more NCAA basketball games than any other edifice in the country.

Sadie Alexander also had an impact on the city of Philadelphia, serving two stints as the Assistant City Solicitor. She served on numerous boards and committees including President Truman's Committee on Human Rights in 1947 and on the Commission on Human Relations of the City of Philadelphia from 1952 until 1968.

Lewis also has high aspirations, but for now is focused on the next four years.

"I want to make sure that I earn a degree from the Wharton school and help this team to the best of my ability," Lewis said.

When he was going through the motions of the basketball recruitment process, Lewis sought a school where he could make an impact. After finishing his high school career, he was offered a scholarship to Indiana.

"I just didn't think it was the right fit," Lewis said. "Everyone wants to play at the highest level."

However, he turned down the offer to attend his prep year at Philips Exeter in order to hone his basketball skills. Lewis sought to play at a high level, but still somewhere at which he would have the opportunity to have a big influence.

While at Exeter, the 6-foot-8 forward had a decision to make -- whether to attend Penn or Columbia. His family history certainly influenced his choice, though it was not the only issue.

"I was just familiar with the school; my family was familiar with school," Lewis said.

Coach Fran Dunphy was certainly cognizant of Lewis' family lineage at Penn.

"We mentioned it to him," Dunphy said. "Like a lot of guys that we ... get to come to Penn, they do a lot of homework on us, so he knew many, many things about Penn."

Lewis' family legacy lives on in West Philadelphia in the Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander University of Pennsylvania Partnership School on 4209 Spruce St. The Pre K-8 school opened in 2001 and serves over 500 students.

Penn supports the school with an annual contribution of $1,000 per pupil and a variety of academic and cultural opportunities.

Lewis has visited the school and has seen many of the other historic spots his great-grandmother influenced.

"I appreciate everything she's done here and for me," Lewis said. "I don't want it to overshadow what I want to do here, to be the best student-athlete I can be."

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