Anne Brancato Wood
Anne Brancato Wood (January 17, 1903 – August 22, 1972) was an American politician who in 1932 became the first woman to be elected to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives as a Democrat. A New Deal liberal from Philadelphia and only the second Italian American to serve in the state legislature, she served five terms in the Pennsylvania House (1933, 1935, 1937, 1939, and 1945) and became the first woman to serve as Speaker Pro Tempore of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives in 1935. The Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission dedicated a state historical marker to her in 1994. Early life Born Anne M. Brancato to Italian immigrant parents in Philadelphia on January 17, 1903, she grew up speaking English, Italian, and Hebrew in her multi-ethnic neighborhood. Brancato graduated high school from the Academy of the Sisters of Mercy and attended Banks Business College and Temple University, where she studied languages such as French and Japanese, though she never completed a college degree. Brancato worked as an advertising manager and photographer's assistant for a local newspaper called Spector and became involved in local Democratic Party politics starting in 1928. She served as chair and president of the Women's Democratic Club