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Prosvita (), since 1991 officially titled All-Ukrainian Prosvita Society named after Taras Shevchenko (Всеукраїнське товариство «Просвіта» імені Тараса Шевченка) is an enlightenment society aimed to preserve and develop Ukrainian culture, education and science, that was created in the nineteenth century in Austria-Hungary's Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria.
According to the declaration of its founders, the movement was created as a counterbalance to anti-Ukrainian colonial and Russophile trends in the Ukrainian society of the period.
After the First Russian Revolution, local branches of the society were also opened in the Russian Empire areas populated by Ukrainians: in Katerynoslav and Odesa (1905), Kyiv (1906), Kamianets-Podilskyi, Zhytomyr, Chernihiv, Mykolaiv, Melitopol, Krasnodar and other cities. However, all of Prosvita societies in the Russian Empire were closed before the start of the First World War, as they were accused of promoting separatism by imperial authorities.
A new wave of Prosvita's development started after the Russian Revolution of 1917, when its branches were restored in Dnieper Ukraine, Volhynia and Polesia, as well as in Kuban and the Far East. However, most of them were once again closed down by the Soviet and Polish authorities in the 1920s and 1930s. Similarly, the Zakarpattian branch of Prosvita established in 1920 was closed down by the Hungarian government in 1939. Prosvita at the Encyclopedia of Ukraine
After the end of the First World War, Prosvita continued to develop in Galicia. In 1936 alone, when Western Ukraine with the city of Lviv were part of the Second Polish Republic, the society opened over 500 new outlets with full-time professional staff. Prosvita at the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 3 (1993). By the end of the interwar period, Prosvita had grown to include 83 affiliates, 3,210 reading rooms, 1,207 premises, 3,209 libraries (with 688,186 books), 2,185 theater clubs, 1,115 choirs, 138 orchestras, and 550 study groups.
In 1939 the society was shut down and banned by the newly arrived Soviet rulers. Prosvita operated only in Western Europe and America up to 1988. The first Prosvita society established in the United States was in Shenandoah, Pennsylvania in 1887. Prosvita at the Encyclopedia of Ukraine
The Prosvita Society was renewed in Ukraine during the Soviet period of Glasnost of 1988–89 as the Shevchenko Association of Ukrainian Language, and since then has taken an active part in social life of independent Ukraine. In modern times it was headed by Dmytro Pavlychko and Pavlo Movchan (present head).
Currently, almost all higher education institutions in Ukraine have Prosvita affiliations with teachers and students as members. Also active are the Young Prosvita youth organizations.
During the war in Donbas two Prosvita members were kidnapped and one was murdered by pro-Russian separatists. In Luhansk kidnapped university historian, Ukrayinska Pravda (24 June 2014) Caught by militants died in Luhansk historian, leader of the "Prosvita", Ukrayinska Pravda (1 July 2014)
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