Notable People from Massachusetts

Lucy Stone

American abolitionist and suffragist (1818-1893)

William Henry Pickering

American astronomer (1858–1938)

Benjamin Tucker

American journalist and anarchist (1854-1939)

Sixto Durán-Ballén

President of Ecuador (1992–1996)

John Greenleaf Whittier

American Quaker poet and advocate of the abolition of slavery (1807-1892)

Mike Wallace

American journalist, game show host and actor (1918–2012)

Bruce McCandless II

American astronaut (1937–2017)

Anne McCaffrey

American-Irish novelist (1926–2011)

Arthur Kennedy

American actor (1914–1990)

James Connolly

American triple jumper (1868-1957)

Dick Dale

American surf rock guitarist (1937–2019)

William T. G. Morton

United States dental surgeon (1819–1868)

Jim Simons

American mathematician and hedge fund manager (1938–2024)

Jack Welch

American executive: General Electric CEO (1935–2020)

William Cullen Bryant

American romantic poet and journalist (1794-1878)

Ellen Swallow Richards

American chemist (1842-1911)

John Singleton Copley

American painter (1738-1815)

Sheldon Adelson

American businessman (1933–2021)

Fred Allen

American comedian (1894–1956)

Elias Howe

American inventor (1819–1867)

Black Dahlia

American murder victim (1924-1947)

Rose Kennedy

American philanthropist and mother of John F. Kennedy

William A. Wellman

American director, actor (1896-1975)

Frank Stella

American painter and printmaker (1936–2024)

Morris Swadesh

American linguist (1909–1967)

Albert Pike

American author, poet, orator, editor, lawyer, jurist and Confederate States Army general Associate justice of the Arkansas Supreme Court, Freemason (1809–1891)

Madeline Kahn

American actress, singer (1942-1999)

George Phillips Bond

American astronomer (1825 – 1865)

Samuel Fuller

American screenwriter, actor and film director (1912–1997)

Robert Lowell

American poet (1917–1977)

William Le Baron Jenney

American architect (1832-1907)

Eunice Kennedy Shriver

American philanthropist; founder of the Special Olympics; sister of John F. Kennedy (1921–2009)

Frank Vincent

American actor (1937–2017)

Carl Andre

American artist (1935-2024)

Donald Davidson

American philosopher (1917–2003)

Cotton Mather

American religious minister and scientific writer (1663–1728)

Clarence Brown

American film director (1890–1987)

Lydia Maria Child

American abolitionist, author and women's rights activist (1802-1880)

Nancy Kelly

American actress (1921–1995)

Alex Rocco

American actor (1936–2015)

William Miller

American founder of the Adventist movement (1782–1849)

Lysander Spooner

American political philosopher, essayist, pamphlet writer, Unitarian, abolitionist, individualist anarchist, legal theorist, a member of the socialist First International and entrepreneur of the 19th century (1808–1887)

Charles Bickford

American actor (1891–1967)

Robert Benchley

American writer and actor (1889-1945)

Frances Perkins

Workers-rights advocate and United States Secretary of Labor 1933–1945

Joel Asaph Allen

American zoologist and ornithologist (1838–1921)

George Bancroft

American historian, statesman, founder of United States Naval Academy (1800-1891)

John Tukey

American mathematician (1915-2000)

Mike Gravel

American politician; United States Senator (1930-2021)

Roger Sherman

early American lawyer and politician, Founding Father of the United States (1721–1793)