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WHEREAS, the latter part of the 19th Century witnessed the emigration of half of a million Slovaks to the United States. In the late 1890's, over 100,000 Slovaks came to reside in and around the City of Pittsburgh where work was plentiful in the mines and steel mills, where they could create a new life and raise their families. Today, there are more than two million United States citizens that can trace their heritage back to Slovakia; and
WHEREAS, by 1920, the City of Pittsburgh was comprised of 28 Slovak Roman Catholic Churches, 15 Slovak Lutheran Churches and Slovak Byzantine Catholic Churches, each having social halls with a few others having grade schools to help newcomers adjust to their new surroundings and exercise their religious freedom; and
WHEREAS, the City of Pittsburgh is home to seven Slovak national organizations: The First Catholic Slovak Union, First Catholic Slovak Ladies Association, Ladies Pennsylvania Slovak Catholic Union, National Slovak Society, Slovak Catholic Sokol, Sokol USA and the United Lutheran Society, all of which were all formed as insurance societies and unions to help early immigrants with financial and social support. Today they continue to play strong cultural, social, and political roles; and
WHEREAS, great contributions to the growth and success of the United States have been made by Slovaks in religion, government, education, engineering, construction, medicine, commerce, athletics, art and music such as: Stefan Banic, inventor of the parachute for use in World War I; Reverend Jozef Murgas, pioneer of radiotelegraphy as well as a scholar, artist, scientist, and writer, who held twelve U.S. patents; Joseph Gaydos, elected to the U.S. House of Representatives for 24 years and went on to become the first Slovak-American to serve in the U. S. Congress, as well as Pittsburgh's Artist's Artist: the great Andy Warhol; and
WHEREAS, through groups such as the Western Pennsylvania Slovak Cultural Association, the W...
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