Box 25: Archival Secrets, Caribbean Workers, and the Panama Canal

In this book, Julie Greene delves into the archives of Box 25, which contains first-person essays written by Afro-Caribbean workers who migrated to the Isthmus of Panama to work on the construction of the Panama Canal.

The essays, written in 1963, provide a unique primary source on the experiences of these workers, detailing their struggles with life-threatening illnesses, accidents, racial discrimination, and culture clashes, as well as their opportunities for material improvement.

Greene examines how colonialism, xenophobia, and racism shaped the process of writing and archiving these testimonies, offering new insights into the strategies and lives of the people who built the canal.