Florence Rose

Florence Rose (June 20, 1903 – April 26, 1969) was an American birth control activist, perhaps best known for serving as the secretary of Margaret Sanger for more than a decade. Early life and education Florence Rose, born in New York City on June 20, 1903, was the youngest of three children and the only daughter of Jewish Hungarian immigrants, Charles and Katie Rosebaum. Rose was raised along with her brothers Felix and Leon in Brooklyn. In addition to secretarial training, her education included study at both Hunter College and Columbia University, but it is not clear whether she ever completed a degree. Early career After concluding her education, Rose held a variety of jobs that included sales, mail-order, and promotional work, often coupled with secretarial duties. From 1923 to 1929 she worked as a secretary and sales correspondent for the Larabee Flour Mills Corporation. In 1929, after she "spent one hot New York summer filing papers and then spent the next hot summer taking them all out," Rose determined that she "had to find something purposeful" and decided to move into public welfare work. As a first step in that direction she worked as the Administrative Assistant for the New York Citizens Street Traffic Committee during 1929 and 1930. Encountering Margaret Sanger In July 1930, Rose gambled and wrote to the internationally known birth control pioneer Margaret Sanger—whom she admired but had never met—and explained that she wanted to "get out of a rut and change my present position while I am still young enough to be shaped into a really valuable assistant to some executive in a position that I can regard as life-long." She billed herself as an "intelligent, loyal assistant," offered Sanger her services, and pleaded with her for a brief meeting. As a result of this long shot, Sanger hired Rose to be her personal secretary and administrative assistant.