In this engaging discussion, Professor Julie Greene, an expert in global labor and the history of the Panama Canal, unpacks its tumultuous past. She reveals how the canal, a 50-mile waterway of immense significance, faced centuries of failed attempts before the U.S. took on the challenge in the early 1900s. The podcast highlights the horrendous conditions faced by Caribbean workers, the scandalous political maneuvering by the U.S., and the canal's lasting impact on global trade and geopolitics, including contemporary debates over its legacy.
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Drake's Dream
In 1572, Francis Drake allied with formerly enslaved Africans fighting the Spanish.
Drake saw the Pacific and realized a canal across Panama could revolutionize trade.
insights INSIGHT
Panama Railroad
Before the canal, the Isthmus of Panama hosted a railroad, built in the mid-19th century.
The California Gold Rush intensified interest in faster transit, leading to the canal idea.
insights INSIGHT
American Ambition
The Panama Canal's location outside the US reflects its calibration to US events.
Americans, driven by national pride and ambition, saw the canal as a display of global power.
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Box 25: Archival Secrets, Caribbean Workers, and the Panama Canal
Julie Greene
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.
What is the history of the Panama Canal and why does Trump think he can 'take it back'? Dan is joined by Professor Julie Greene to delve into the long backstory of this 50-mile waterway that changed the world. Its journey from concept to completion was fraught as many nations sought to build it over several centuries, with the US eventually taking up the costly task in the 1900s. During the decade-long construction, many workers, mostly from the Caribbean, suffered awful working conditions and were injured or died building it. Total control was handed over to Panama in the 1990s.
Better understand the headlines with this deep dive into history.
You can learn more in Julie's books 'Box 25: Archival Secrets, Caribbean Workers, and the Panama Canal' and 'The Canal Builders.'
Produced by Mariana Des Forges and edited by Max Carrey
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