Culture of Philadelphia

By the 1750s, Philadelphia was the second-largest city in the British Empire after London, and a center of early American culture, political leadership, intellectual thought, and industry and manufacturing.

In the 17th and 18th centuries, Philadelphia was known globally for its freedom of religion and a city where people could live without fear of persecution because of their religious affiliations or practices.

Prior to the American Revolution and following it, Philadelphia grew quickly into a major political and economic center of the United States, serving as the nation's capital until 1800.

In 1776, 56 delegates to the Second Continental Congress, determined to secure independence from British colonial rule, charged the Committee of Five, including John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Robert R. Livingston, and Roger Sherman, with authoring a declaration to King George III declaring the Thirteen Colonies free and independent states.

[2] Following the Battle of Gettysburg, the bloodiest battle of the American Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln famously referenced the Declaration of Independence in the Gettysburg Address, one of the most famous speeches in American history, saying, "Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

"[3]: 126 In the 19th and 20th century, immigration and migration led to large concentrations of Irish, Italians, Germans, Asians, Puerto Ricans and African Americans.

Before the first European settlers arrived in present-day Philadelphia, the region was inhabited by the Lenape, a group of Native American people.

The Lenape occasionally fought with the earliest Dutch settlers, but had much better relations with William Penn and the early inhabitants of the English subjects of the colony of Pennsylvania.

Philadelphia became the earliest recorded East Coast city with a Korean community in the 1880s; early members were largely political exiles supporting Philip Jaisohn.

There was also a small group of upper class African Americans, both educated, wealthy and Philadelphia born, who descended from freedmen earlier in the century.

Old black working-class neighborhoods became ghettos filled with vacant lots and houses due to loss of industrial jobs.

Many of the families that made up the upper class could trace their lineage to the earliest Quaker settlers, though many of these had subsequently joined the Church of England or Presbyterian denominations.

[22] The Philadelphia upper class engaged in fox hunting, race horse breeding, attending balls and lavishly entertaining in their townhouses or mansions.

By the late 20th century, membership in the upper class was defined less by ancestry, and organizations such as the Union League began to accept limited numbers of Jews, Catholics, and African Americans.

[16] Prior to the American Revolution the upper class increasingly supported the arts, particularly by commissioning portrait paintings.

Portraitist Charles Willson Peale and sculptor William Rush helped found the Academy of the Fine Arts and artists such as Thomas Eakins, Henry Ossawa Tanner and some of the members of the Philadelphia Ten studied there.

The museum holds over 225,000 pieces of artwork including work by Vincent van Gogh, Pablo Picasso, and Marcel Duchamp.

In the late 1950s, the Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority included a clause in its development contracts requiring that at least one percent of construction budget be allocated to fine art.

The program, an extension of the city's Anti-Graffiti Network, is intended to beautify neighborhoods and also provide an outlet for graffiti artists.

[25] The city developed an early jazz scene with many future best selling artists, including John Coltrane and Charlie Biddle, coming out of Philadelphia.

In Philadelphia's early history the city was visited by outside theater troupes, but experienced some resistance from conservatives and Quakers who tried to restrict performances.

Philadelphia produced several major theater actors, including Edwin Forrest, John Drew, and several members of the Barrymore family.

The University of Pennsylvania puts on productions at the Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts, the Irvine Auditorium and the Iron Gate Theater.

Lubin continued to make films in Philadelphia, now showing them commercially, and built his own cameras and projectors which he marketed.

Several months after the MovieMaker Magazine article, Pacifica Ventures announced that it will be opening a film studio in the Philadelphia area in 2008.

The early 20th century saw the creation of the first automat in the United States on Chestnut Street and the founding of the Tasty Baking Company.

For most of the 20th century fine dining could only be found in private clubs or dinner parties, but with the beginning of the city's revival in the 1970s a restaurant renaissance began.

[citation needed] Philly Fellows, started in 2005, have been focusing efforts on "building capacity in the non-profit sector."

[57] Since 1993, every summer around the July 4th holiday, the multi-day Welcome America event celebrates Philadelphia as the birthplace of the United States.

Major events include the Greek Picnic, a reunion and celebration of African American college fraternities and sororities.