Labor Migrants Who Changed the World

Some brought children with them, and others gave birth in the Canal Zone, so gradually canal life became a family experience for many. Some kept working for the Isthmian Canal Commission, helping maintain the canal operations, while others moved home, or onward to plantations across Central America, or saved their money and headed to New York City. Decade upon decade passed by, and in 1963 when the competition was announced, the original canal builders were now aged men and women. [...]the competition narratives and other records demonstrate the myriad ways Caribbean workers subverted the goals of U.S. officials and foremen, forced revisions to their policies, and created working or living conditions more to their liking.