Rubryka spoke to Elizabeth Roskam, an award-winning artist and philanthropist. She has been creating Ukraine-themed art for years and even presented one of her works, Bright Horizons, to former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko after his Joint Session speech to the U.S. Congress in 2014.
"Bright Horizons" by Elizabeth Raskom was gifted to President Poroshenko after his Joint Session speech to Congress in 2014.
Since then, she has created more pieces, many of them inspired by her trips to Ukraine and the resilience of the Ukrainian people. One of her pieces features a sunflower in the foreground and destruction in the background—it symbolizes how Ukraine continues to flourish despite all the devastation. "Art is a universal language; it speaks to the heart without needing translation. I hope my work helps bring attention to Ukraine's struggles and strength," Roskam shared with Rubryka.
Roskam's connection to Ukraine is deeply personal. She is half Ukrainian, and her family's immigration story mirrors that of many other Ukrainian immigrants. Her grandparents left Ukraine in the 1920s and settled in the United States, where her mother was born. Despite living abroad, the family made great efforts to preserve their Ukrainian heritage. Elizabeth was baptized in the Ukrainian Catholic Church, learned some Ukrainian, embraced Ukrainian traditions, and passed them on to her own children.
One of her sons, a videographer, traveled to Ukraine in April 2022—just months after Russia's full-scale invasion—to document life in a war-torn country and share the truth about the war with the world.
Roskam herself has visited Ukraine three times, but what led us to her was her dedication to exploring her Ukrainian roots. Knowing you have Ukrainian ancestry is one thing—actively researching and uncovering that heritage is something else entirely.
What is the problem?
Over the past two hundred years, Ukrainian immigration has occurred in four major waves, each shaped by different historical events. For centuries, Ukrainians have been forced to leave their homeland due to political unrest, famine, wars, and repression, leading to the formation of a vast Ukrainian diaspora across the world.
Throughout these waves of immigration, Ukrainians have maintained strong cultural ties to their homeland while contributing to their host countries. Many sought to preserve their connection to Ukraine by bringing valuable souvenirs, documents, clothing, and other meaningful items that would remind them of home and help future generations remember their heritage. However, not everyone had the time or opportunity to carefully pack their belongings. Some families arrived in foreign countries with nothing to remind them of their homeland, leaving their descendants with fewer tangible links to their Ukrainian roots.
What is the solution?
Luckily, Raskom's case was a more optimistic one. Curious about her ancestry, she had a variety of pictures, documents and her grandparents' belongings to investigate her Ukrainian heritage. Being a wife to Peter J. Roskam, a former US congressman, she even travelled to Ukraine several times, mostly to Kyiv. Her dream to the city of her ancestors, Ternopil, came true in 2019. Her husband was invited to speak at a conference in Poland near Kraków, and since they were so close to the Ukrainian border, they decided to take the train to Lviv. While in Lviv, she reached out to a friend at the Ukrainian Catholic University, who helped them find an interpreter.
"I had inherited my mother's papers, old photos, and documents about our family. My family had never gone back to Ukraine after my grandparents left—my mother wasn't able to visit, and none of my siblings had either," the artist explains. This made Raskom the first one to go back and try to trace the family roots. She even consulted with the Ukrainian ambassador to the US for advice on where to start her research.
How does it work?
Elizabeth's story is truly worth a Hollywood movie plot. She had an old address from her great-aunt's passport from the 1920s, which indicated an address where the family came from. Raskom cross-referenced it with historical maps and with the help of the interpreter, they managed to find that address in Ternopil.
There was a new house there, whose inhabitants knew nothing about the previous owners or Raskom's ancestors. However, while looking for the necessary address, the group was approached by a neighbour, who shared a story of a man who had lived in the area for a long time with the same last name as in Raskom's documents.
"When we visited him, he didn't initially recognize our family name, but then I showed him old family photos. Suddenly, he pointed to a picture and said, 'That's me when I was five years old,'" Raskom recalls with fascination.
A picture of Elizabeth Raskom's family. Her second cousin, Ihor, is a 5-year-old boy in the pictured. Photo courtesy of Elizabeth Raskom
The man turned out to be her second cousin, Ihor. He had no idea he had American relatives because his family had been sent to Siberia by the Soviets in the 1940s. The repression had erased any knowledge of their connection. He was completely shocked to learn that his grandfather had siblings in America. "We visited the family cemetery together, where I finally saw the names my mother had talked about all her life. It was an overwhelming experience—both beautiful and bittersweet," the artist shared.
Elizabeth Raskom and her second cousin, Ihor. Photo courtesy of Elizabeth Raskom
It was pure chance—they didn't make an appointment, they just knocked on doors. If people hadn't been home that day, none of this might have happened. "My only regret is that my mother never got to meet them. She had always wondered if she still had family in Ukraine, and I wish she had been able to see this reunion," Raskom shared with a bittersweet smile.
Even more useful solutions!
Тot everyone with Ukrainian ancestry has documentation or evidence to make tracing their family history easier. In some cases, all that remains is a Ukrainian surname and a general idea of an ancestral hometown. However, various resources and services are available to help uncover your Ukrainian roots and piece together your family's history.
Rubryka provides a short guide on where to start:
- Gather oral histories – Talk to relatives, collect personal stories, and note key life events and dates.
- Examine family archives – Review documents, photographs, letters, and diaries, labeling them properly.
- Construct a preliminary family tree – Organize known relationships and identify missing links.
- Research vital records – Look for birth, marriage, and death certificates to verify information on one of the following resources — FamilySearch, Ancestry, MyHeritage.
- Access church records – Find baptism, marriage, and burial records for additional details.
- Utilize census data – Check census records for ancestral residences and family structures.
- Explore military records – Search for draft registrations, service records, and pension files.
- Investigate immigration documents – Review passenger lists, naturalization papers, and passports.Ellis Island Records, Castle Garden, U.S. National Archives (NARA) might be helpful.
- Visit local archives and libraries – Look into newspapers, land deeds, wills, and other historical documents.
- Document and share findings – Keep organized records and consider sharing your family history with relatives or online platforms.
Extra tip: Have you ever felt the urge to support Ukraine, even without having Ukrainian ancestry—or at least, without knowing for sure? If you're curious about your roots, DNA testing can help uncover potential Ukrainian heritage. Consider using one of the following resources for DNA testing and matching:
- 23andMe (www.23andme.com) – DNA testing with Eastern European ancestry breakdown.
- LivingDNA (www.livingdna.com) – Specializes in regional ancestry reports.
You can learn more about the process of investigating your genealogy in Rubryka's article Following your roots: 10 Steps to exploring your genealogy.
