Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania (the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania) is one of four states of the United States of America that is called a commonwealth. It has given its name to the Pennsylvanian time period in geology. Pennsylvania is called the Keystone State.

Notable Pennsylvanians

• Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790) was one of the most important figures in Pennsylvania's history, although he was born in Boston, Massachusetts. He founded the University of Pennsylvania in 1742. He had the distinction of signing both the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution. He is buried with his wife Deborah in Christ Church Cemetery in Philadelphia.
• Stephen Foster was born in Pittsburgh on July 4, 1826. He was the pre-eminent songwriter in the United States of his era. Many of his songs, such as "Oh! Susanna", "Camptown Races", and "Beautiful Dreamer", are still popular over 150 years after their composition.
• James Buchanan (1791–1868) was born and lived in Pennsylvania until his death. He was the 15th President of the United States and the only President from that state.
• George M. Dallas (1792–1864) of Philadelphia served as the 11th Vice President of the United States under James K. Polk and is the only Pennsylvanian to hold the office. He also served as U.S. Minister to Great Britain and Russia, as Mayor of Philadelphia and in the Senate.
• Thaddeus Stevens (1792–1868) was a key Pennsylvania state legislator in establishing and maintaining Pennsylvania's early system of public education. As a U.S. Congressman and leading "Radical Republican", he helped draft the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, guaranteeing "equal protection of the laws" to all Americans.
• Rachel Carson (1907–1964) born near Springdale, was a pioneer environmentalist and author of Silent Spring
• Winfield Scott Hancock (1824–1886) was born in Montgomery Square. He commanded Union troops during the American Civil War, most notably during the Battle of Gettysburg.
• Ida Tarbell (1857–1944) was born in Erie and was educated at the Sorbonne in Paris. She was a pioneering "muckraker" journalist and one of the few female journalists in the country during her time. In 1906, she joined with Lincoln Steffens and Ray Stannard Baker to establish the radical American Magazine. She also wrote several books on the role of women including The Business of Being a Woman (1912) and The Ways of Women (1915).
• Pop artist Andy Warhol (1928–1987) was born Andrew Warhola in Pittsburgh. The Andy Warhol Museum is located in Pittsburgh's North Side, and he is buried in nearby Bethel Park.
• Kurt Angle (1968—) was born and raised in Pittsburgh. Angle won the Gold Medal in freestyle Roman/Greco wrestling at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, Georgia, USA, before signing with Vince McMahon's World Wrestling Entertainment, where he has won the WWE Championship on four different occasions. Angle is one of only two wrestlers in the WWE to have participated in the Olympics, and is the only one to have won gold medals.
• K. Leroy Irvis (1918—) was born near Albany, New York, but came to Pennsylvania to head Pittsburgh's Urban League in the 1940s. Fired under pressure after leading a successful boycott of Pittsburgh's department stores for discriminating against African-Americans, Irvis enrolled at the University of Pittsburgh law school, graduated with honors, became Pittsburgh's first black judicial law clerk, then an assistant district attorney, then a state legislator. Serving 30 years in the Pennsylvania House (1958–1988), 26 of them as an elected Democratic leader, Irvis became the first 20th Century African-American Speaker in 1977. He was a major force behind numerous successful efforts to expand educational opportunities in Pennsylvania.
• General of the Army George C. Marshall (1880–1959) of Uniontown, lead the United States Army as Chief of Staff during the Second World War. He later served as Secretary of State and authored the Marshall Plan.
• Prince Demetrius Gallitzin (1770–1840) A Russian prince turned Roman Catholic missionary priest known as Apostle of the Alleghenies. He emigrated to the United States in 1792 and studied theology under Bishop John Carroll. In 1795, he became the first Catholic to receive all the orders of priesthood in the United States. In 1799 he used his own fortune to purchase 20,000 acres in Cambria County to form a Catholic community, the nucleus of the modern Roman Catholic Church west of the Allegheny Mountains. A prolific writer and apologist, he was declared a Servant of God in 2005, the first step on the road toward possible canonization.
• Tom Ridge, The former Secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (1945-), was Governor of Pennsylvania between 1995 and 2003. Prior to that, he was a US Representative from Erie between 1982 and 1995.
• Eugene W. Hickok, The former U.S. Deputy Secretary of Education from 2004–2005, and prior to that, Pennsylvania's Secretary of Education from 1995–2001.
• Marian Anderson, of Philadelphia, world-reknowned contralto, who, after the Daughters of the American Revolution refused to let her sing at Constitution Hall because she was African-American, was famously invited to sing at the Lincoln Memorial by Eleanor Roosevelt.
• James J. Davis, U.S. Secretary of Labor from 1921 to 1932 and U.S. Senator from 1932 to 1946

Pennsylvania in popular music

Pennsylvania has given birth to some of the nation's leading popular and rock music groups, including Anti-Flag, Christina Aguilera, Bloodhound Gang, Boyz II Men, Vanessa Carlton, Coolio, Fuel, Hall & Oates, Live, Joan Jett, Patti LaBelle, Pink, Poison, Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails, The Roots, Rusted Root, Jill Scott, Shanice, Will Smith, The Dead Milkmen, Flag of Democracy, Brett Michaels to name a few.

Related Topics:
Rock music - Anti-Flag - Christina Aguilera - Bloodhound Gang - Boyz II Men - Vanessa Carlton - Coolio - Fuel - Hall & Oates - Live - Joan Jett - Patti LaBelle - Pink - Poison - Trent Reznor - Nine Inch Nails - The Roots - Rusted Root - Jill Scott - Shanice - Will Smith - The Dead Milkmen - Flag of Democracy - Brett Michaels

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Pennsylvanians in Film, Television, and Theater

Many Pennsylvanians have found success in film, television, and the theater including:

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• F. Murray Abraham - Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
• Kevin Bacon - Philadelphia
• John Barrymore - Philadelphia
• Lionel Barrymore - Philadelphia
• Peter Boyle - Philadelphia
• Charles Bronson - Ehrenfeld, Pennsylvania
• Bill Cosby - Philadelphia
• Scott Glenn - Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
• Russell Johnson - Ashley, Pennsylvania
• Shirley Jones - Charleroi, Pennsylvania
• Gene Kelly - Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
• Grace Kelly - Philadelphia
• Jayne Mansfield - Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania
• Henry Mancini - Aliquippa, Pennsylvania
• Dennis Miller - Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
• Jack Palance - Lattimer Mines, Pennsylvania
• M. Night Shyamalan - Philadelphia (immigrated from India as a child)
• Jimmy Stewart - Indiana, Pennsylvania
• Mr. Rogers - Latrobe, Pennsylvania
• David O. Selznick - Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
• Fritz Weaver - Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
• Michael Keaton - Coraopolis, Pennsylvania
• Sharon Stone - Meadville, Pennsylvania
• Will Smith - Philadelphia