Kross, Anna M. (Anna Moscowitz), 1891-1979

Prisoner in cell at Women's House of Detention, New York, May 2, 1956. Photograph by Jacona

Anna Moscowitz was born in Nesheves Russia, July 17, 1891, daughter of Mayer and Esther (Drazen) Moscowitz. When Anna was two years old, the family immigrated to the United States to avoid religious persecution. They were desperately poor. Anna studied at Columbia University in 1907, worked in a factory, taught English to foreigners, and at night studied law on a scholarship. She received an L.L.B in 1910 and an L.L.M. from New York University in 1911 and was admitted to the New York Bar in 1912. While still in law school she became interested in the fate of prisoners in the court system. In 1917 she married Dr. Isodor Kross, a prominent New York surgeon. They had three children.

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