Immigrant Stories
Our interviewees are provided in this section, whose interviews delve into topics of moving, mining, marriage, and more. Communicating this information is important because it develops a better understanding of the Kentucky environment and history. Furthermore, it allows our audience, consisting of students, parents, and friends seeking to learn about the history of the Kentucky region, to process the purpose of our Digital Story.
Andrew Keleman
Andrew A. Keleman, an interviewee from the Appalachia: Immigrants into the Coal Fields project, originally comes from a Hungarian immigrant family. In his interview, he recalls how he is from an immigrant family, but is not an immigrant himself because he was born in Pennsylvania. Although this statement stands true, Andrew is valuable to the Digital Story for his interactions with an immigrant family, and first-hand experience working in the Lynch, Kentucky coal mines. In the coal mines, Keleman was a miner for 22 years, beginning his career in 1938. Beyond his career and background, Keleman discusses his marriage and livelihood in Lynch, Kentucky. His wife, Dorabelle Keleman, is even an interviewee in the project, but her lack of mentioning leaves Andrew the central focus. Altogether, his story is significant to Appalachian history, and for use in this Digital Story.
(Keleman, et. al 0:00-56:28)
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Anna Lasslo
Anna B. Lasslo comes from a Hungarian immigrant family and her livelihood is dated in the Appalachia: Immigrants into the Coal Fields project. Her story largely centralizes around Hazard, Kentucky, one of the towns in Harlan County/the Appalachian region. Lasslo's experiences with World War I, living in Hungary, living widely across the United States, being an immigrant, and marrying are all accounted for in the interview. Although Anna resided in a coal camp town, she was never a coal miner herself. Rather, she had associations with workers and kept work secluded to a grocery business or her husband's shoe shop. The collective experience of Lasslo throughout her lifetime is important to this Digital Story.
(Lasslo, et al. 0:00-1:23:49)