Diggers, foremen, laundresses, carpenters, and switch men—these are only a handful of the jobs that tens of thousands of Afro-Caribbean migrants worked during the US construction of the Panama Canal between 1904 and 1914 and for many years thereafter. Far from the islands and coastal communities of their birth, these workers’ indispensable contributions to one of the most significant engineering undertakings in the Americas have in recent decades been uncovered, acknowledged, and celebrated. A key factor contributing to the inclusion of their stories in historical scholarship is the availability of a unique archival source: a collection of 112 individual life narratives submitted to an essay contest commemorating the labor and lives of non-U.S. employees as part of the 50th anniversary of the canal’s completion in 1963. These records are stored in Box 25 of the Isthmian Historical Society, which is part of the Canal Zone Library-Museum collection at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. While some of the submissions are short and sparse in detail, others are lengthy and richly descriptive. Increasingly, scholars of the Panama Canal have turned to this rare archival collection, which gives voice to a small sample of the approximately 200,000 Afro-Caribbean canal builders. Historian Julie Greene introduces readers to this singular source by highlighting its texture, value, and limitations. She also masterfully situates it alongside other documentary evidence. Moreover, she reveals its significance to the historiography of the Panama Canal and to community-engaged scholarship, more broadly. Her work is not merely an account of Afro-Caribbean migrant laborers’ experiences. It also offers a meditation on the legacies of postcolonial archives.

The book is divided into six chapters. Chapter 1 integrates current scholarship on Afro-Caribbean canal builders, emphasizing how both the migrant labor force and the archive documenting them were shaped by the exercise of white US imperial power in Latin America. Greene also offers a synopsis of Panama Canal’s history and the role of West Indian workers in its construction, which is particularly helpful for readers unfamiliar with the subject. Chapter 2 briefly explores the factors that led Afro-Caribbean peoples to depart their island and coastal homes in search of better employment opportunities in the Canal Zone. Chapter 3 focuses on the working conditions Afro-Caribbean men faced during the construction project. Greene weaves in specific experiences drawn from the 112 individual testimonies submitted to the essay contest. Though these individuals represent only a small segment of the total Afro-Caribbean workforce, they are illustrative of some of the same broader experiences, as many workers steadily obtained more skilled positions. As Greene examines in Chapter 4, the individual life histories reveal much about how West Indian canal builders navigated imperial and racist systems. Chapter 5 places the Box 25 life narratives in conversation with the National Personnel Records (NPR), in which canal authorities documented workers’ job assignments, health matters, and work-related accidents. They even maintained correspondence related to their family lives. Despite the intimate texture of these life histories, the detailed personnel records reveal even more by showing how Afro-Caribbeans made demands for better pay and working conditions. The personnel records also contain bits about workers’ private lives, including information about romantic or marital issues and children. Chapter 6 traces how scholars, writers, and filmmakers have leveraged Box 25 as a source in writing about the Panama Canal. Greene argues that the increasing use of this collection as a primary source has resulted in richer accounts of Afro-Caribbean history and, more specifically, Afro-Caribbean peoples’ role in building the Panama Canal.

Greene’s concise monograph provides an authoritative introduction to the role of Afro-Caribbeans in the Panama Canal’s construction, synthesizing recent scholarship in a beautifully written text suitable for undergraduate and graduate courses. It complements two notable studies published in 2022: Joan Flores-Villalobos’ The Silver Women and Kaysha Corinealdi’s Panama in Black, which examine the experiences of Afro-Caribbean canal workers and their descendants. While Greene’s background as a US and labor historian informs her own analysis, it results in limited engagement with Panamanian perspectives, with only brief attention given to local interactions with Canal Zone employees. Moreover, her discussion only hints at the contentious issues surrounding the broader archive of which Box 25 is a part—an archive that some Panamanians regard as emblematic of US imperialism due to its residence at the Library of Congress. In light of renewed scholarly and public focus on the Panama Canal, particularly since January 2025, Greene’s work may be poised to contribute to the resurgence of nationalist interpretations of its history.