Angela Carlozzi Rossi

Angela Carlozzi Rossi (1901-1977) was an American social worker who worked for the Italian Welfare League from 1934 to 1973, serving as executive secretary and later as head of the Immigrant Aid Department. During that time, Rossi assisted thousands of Italian and other immigrants, including many who were interned at the Ellis Island immigration center during World War II. When she began her career, it was unusual for Italian Americans to enter the field of social work. As the daughter of immigrants from Foggia, Italy, she was the first social worker with a "foreign background" to be hired by the Society for the Protection of Children in Philadelphia. Biography She was born in Manhattan, New York City, in 1901, one of nine children. When she was four years old, the family moved to Brooklyn, where she grew up in a bustling household that also included two grandmothers. Her father was a Baptist, and the family belonged to the Italian Baptist Church in Williamsburg. She attended P.S. 143 and Eastern District High School. After moving to Philadelphia to take a job with the Society for the Protection of Children, she took courses at Temple University. As a social worker, she specialized in working with Italian immigrants, often acting as an interpreter for them.