Anne Anatasi was born on December 19th 1908 in New York City. Anne's father was Anthony Anastasi and her mother was Theresa Gauiosi. When Anne was young her father died, which left her and her mother very distant from her father’s side of the family. Due to the death of her father, her family was in desperate need of money. Anne's mother took on many different jobs such as bookkeeping, opening up her own piano store, and working for an Italian newspaper to support the family. Since her mother was always busy working, Anne’s grandmother took care of her and taught her at home because she believed that public education was bad for her. Due to her home schooling, when she went to public school she had difficulties because the classes were overcrowded. Eventually, Anne would go to public school. The school Anne went to was PS 3 and Evander Childs High School Bronx, New York. Due to the difficulty of public school and family problems she was often in and out of school but eventually graduated and went to a private school called Rhodes Preparatory school. At the age of 15, in 1923, she was accepted into Barnard College.