Since the 1880s, Northeastern Pennsylvania has been home to one of the United States’ largest and liveliest Ukrainian-American populations. The region has 10 of the top 20 U.S. communities by percentage of people with Ukrainian ancestry, and Schuylkill County has the largest per capita Ukrainian-American population in the country.

On Saturday, August 10 at 2 p.m., Kutztown University’s Dr. Paula Holoviak will give a presentation at Eckley Miners’ Village explaining how NEPA became a hotbed of Ukrainian culture. Some of the first Ukrainian immigrants to American were attracted to patchtowns like Eckley by the promise of good-paying work in the anthracite coal mines.

“The roots of the Ukrainian community in the United States are in Northeastern Pennsylvania,” explains Holoviak. While Ukrainian immigrants became vital parts of their adopted communities, they also worked to preserve their ethnic customs and values. Institutions like Shenandoah’s St. Michael’s Church, founded in 1884 as the country’s first Ukrainian Catholic church, connected immigrant families to their home country.

Today, places like Lehighton’s Ukrainian Homestead, which Dr. Holoviak helps run, continues to tie Ukrainian-Americans to their ancestry. Holoviak’s talk will be followed by a traditional dance performance by her son and niece. Both are members of the Kazka Ukrainian Folk Ensemble.

NEPA’s Ukrainian Influence on Pennsylvania Politics

A native of Freeland, just three miles from Eckley, Holoviak is an expert on Pennsylvania politics who published her most recent book, Pennsylvania Government and Politics, with coauthor Thomas Baldino in March. Her talk at Eckley will show how Northeastern Pennsylvania’s connection to Ukraine has influenced Pennsylvania politics over time.

“In sense,” she says, “World War I, the dissolution of the Russian Empire, the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman Empires—all of that was fought in the Coal Regions of Northeastern Pennsylvania. Every empire was vying for the loyalty of the immigrants to fund their war effort.”

Although Holoviak’s program will focus on Ukrainian-Americans, it speaks to NEPA’s wider history of immigration and cultural evolution. “It really applies to all the immigrants who came to the anthracite coal region,” she reflects. “You could substitute Italian or Irish for Ukrainian, and it would be similar. We’re still an ever-changing region of immigrants. It’s a universal story. Ours just happens to focus on coal.”

Energize Eckley Promotes NEPA’s Heritage

Holoviak’s program is the fourth installment in Energize Eckley, a six-part speaker series running on most Saturdays through August 2024. Tickets to Energize Eckley must be purchased in advance at www.eckleyminersvillage.com/energize and are $12/event or $60 for a season pass to all six events.

Proceeds will be matched by a National Endowment for the Humanities grant to rehabilitate several historic structures at Eckley as an interdisciplinary learning center and overnight lodging, part of a long-term effort to preserve the village and fuel curiosity about NEPA’s singular past. Energize Eckley is sponsored by PNC Bank and Mauch Chunk Trust.