Ukrainians in the United States
Although
American historical
records indicate that there were people of Ukrainian origin on the
North
American continent as early as the seventeenth and eighteenth
centuries, it was
in the years from 1870 - 1914 that the first large-scale immigration of
Ukrainians
to the United States took place. The majority of immigrants came from
the
western provinces - Galicia and the Carpathian regions of the old
Austro-Hungarian Empire. They came from small towns and villages such
as:
Bibrka, Skalat, Brody, Zbarazh, Berezhany, Radehiv, Rusiatyn, Ternopil,
Rohatyn
and Yavoriv. For the most part, they were peasant farmers who were not
able to
make a decent living on their small farms and could not afford to
purchase more
land at home. Other motives for migration were discontent with their
lack of
national identity, the promise of high wages and steady employment, the
prospect of free homestead land and to escape high taxes and poor
living
conditions. The new arrivals often wrote home to encourage others to
follow,
and Ukrainian immigrants usually settled in those areas where their
relatives
or friends were already living. A heavy influx came to work the coal
mines of
Pennsylvania. That state and New York received the largest percentages
of early
Ukrainian immigration, but sizable Ukrainian communities developed also
in New
Jersey, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, Illinois, Connecticut, Massachusetts
and
Rhode Island.
During
the 1870's Ukrainian
immigration was sporadic, but from the 1880's to World War I the influx
was
continuous. In 1899 estimates of the number of Ukrainians in the United
States
ranged from 200,000 to 500,000, with the lower figure being the more
plausible
one. From 1899 to 1930, a total of 268,311 Ukrainian immigrants entered
the
ports of this country. However, they were listed as
”Ruthenians,” “Rusins,” or
“Russniaks.”
Rhode
Island received 2,041 of
this total and undoubtedly others came prior to 1899 however instead of
being
identified by their ethnic background they were identified by
nationality so
many Ukrainians were listed as either Austrian because they came from
that part
of the Ukraine which was under the Austro-Hungarian Empire or Russian
because
they came from that part of Ukraine which was under the Russian Empire.
The
state's peak year was 1913 when the total number of immigrants was 337.
This is
especially true for the city of Woonsocket where the 1920 census
classified 6.1
percent of the population as of Austrian stock.
The
first arrivals to Rhode
Island were mostly men, who settled in the localities of Woonsocket,
Manville,
Central Falls, Providence, Pawtucket, and Crompton. They were young,
eager,
venturesome and ready for new horizons. The mills employed them in the
least
desirable jobs and the lowest pay and they climbed the job ladder very
slowly.
Between
1920 and 1939 no more
than 40,000 Ukrainians immigrated to the United States. Most of them
came from
those parts ruled by Poland, since very few Ukrainians were permitted
to
immigrate from the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic after 1920.
The next large influx of immigrants took place in the post-World War II period. This immigration was composed mostly of families and individuals who had left Ukraine during the war (many were in forced-work camps in Germany or in other occupied territories) and who refused to return to their homeland under Communist dictatorship. In the beginning of 1948 there were approximately 250,000 Ukrainian displaced persons in Western Europe. Under the Displaced Persons Act passed by Congress in that year, some 85,000 of these Ukrainians entered the United States. In 1952 another 33,000 were admitted, and 8,000 more arrived in 1955.
The post-World War II immigration brought new and young families into Rhode Island. This influx did much to strengthen and renew the existing Ukrainian - American communities.