Dot Kontos • Jul 25, 2014 • 304 Views
Ukrainian Immigration To Chicago By Stephen Jones
Ukraine • Smaller than Texas, it is the largest Eastern European country. • The southeast has steppe regions with over 23,000 rivers. • The Dnieper River is navigable for large ships. • The Crimean Peninsula extends into the Black Sea. • The “breadbasket of Europe.”
History • Rich, dark soil and humid continental climate are perfect for farming. • Early Slavic groups settled the area. • Vikings moved in around AD 800 and established Kiev, the modern capital. • They accepted Eastern Orthodox Christianity and built a prosperous civilization. • This attracted invasions from Mongols, Poles, Lithuanians, and lastly the Russians.
Modern Ukraine • Joseph Stalin nationalized farms in the early 1930s, causing a famine that killed millions. • The Nazi invasion in World War II killed millions more. • Today, Ukraine has about 50 million people. • 75% are ethnic Ukrainians; 22% are Russian. • Most live in cities, practice the Eastern Orthodox faith, and speak Ukrainian.
Discussion: Why do people leave their home country to settle elsewhere? • 1. • 2. • 3. • 4.
Early Immigration • The first wave arrived between 1870-1914. • They settled around Division, Racine, Orleans and Roosevelt Streets in west central Chicago. Modern home in Ukrainian Village
Early Immigration continued • Others settled in the south side near Packingtown erecting a church soon thereafter. • It featured the typical three barred cross common in Eastern Europe.
A Cultural Landmark • St. Nicholas Cathedral was finished in 1915. • It serves as a cultural center of modern Ukrainian Village. • Ukrainians modeled it after St. Sophia’s Cathedral in Kiev.
Twentieth Century Immigration • Its completion marked the beginning of the second phase of Ukrainian immigration. • Following World War I, Ukrainians with industrial skills began arriving in Chicago. • They sought to escape the turmoil of Ukraine’s recent independence. • In 1933, they participated in the Chicago centennial celebration and built a pavilion for that event.
Post World War II • Persecution following the Second World War drove many other Ukrainians to leave their homeland. • These immigrant were dedicated to ensuring Ukraine’s eventual independence from the Soviet Union. • For the first time, large numbers of professionals and highly educated Ukrainians settled Chicago.
Religious Division • In recent years, there has been friction between Ukrainian Catholics and Orthodox worshipers. • They each have separate churches. • Orthodox Christians attend St. Volodymyr Church.
Ukrainian Village Today • The fall of Communism in Eastern Europe has spurred an influx in Ukrainian immigration throughout the United States and Chicago. • Many of the new arrivals are entrepreneurs and have opened numerous ships in and out of Ukrainian Village. Statue at Ukrainian National Museum, Chicago
Works Cited • www.oomroom.ca/mockups/unm//eng/whatsHappening/village.html • www.tynedaleccl.org.uk/ukraine/ukraine.htm • Richard Boehm, and others, eds. Geography: The World and its People. New York: Glencoe McGraw-Hill, 2002. • www.chicagometroarearealestate.com/ukrainian-village-walking-distance-to-metra-wicker-park/ • www.ukrainiannationalmuseum.org • All photographs courtesy of Stephen Jones.