Melnyk, Christine, 2006 April 12

Christine Melnyk immigrated to New Haven with her family in 1949 and joined the city's sizeable Ukranian American population. Melnyk discusses the Ukranian American community and her involvement with it as a child and an adult. Her family arrived as part of a second wave of Ukranian immigrants fleeing Russian political control, an influx that peaked during the 1950s. Melynk's family lived near the Ukranian Church that was on Park Street and spent much time there. She also joined Platzt, a Ukranian society, went to Ukranian school three times a week, and joined the Ukranian National Women's League of America after college. Her family spoke Ukranian in the home, and Melnyk's own daughters learnd Ukranian before English. She talks about her identification with two cultures, American and Ukranian. She also discusses her efforts to preserve and promote Ukranian culture as an adult, through activities in various societies, annual community celebrations, and through outreach at the Ethnic Heritage Center at Southern Connectitcut State University. She worries that the newer Ukranian immigrants have less interest in their cultural heritage than did the members of her generation and discusses her fear that the community has become somewhat stagnant.

Interviewer: Sawka, Ilyana