Latin American History Commons^™

Black Labor On A White Canal: West Indians In Panama, 1904-1980, Michael Conniff

Faculty Publications, History

As a crossroads for world commerce, Panama has always attracted outsiders. Traders, laborers, and adventurers swarmed to the Isthmus whenever new projects began. Between 1850 and 1950, as many as 200,000 West Indian blacks traveled to Panama, the most voluminous trans-Caribbean movement of people ever . The high tides of migration occurred in 1850-55 (the Panama Railroad), 1880-89 (the unsuccessful French canal), 1904-14 (the U.S. canal), and 1940-42 (the third locks project). West Indians saw Panama as a promised land with abundant jobs for the robust and easy money for the clever. They hoped that the journey to Panama would …