Founded in 1519 as the first European settlement on the Pacific coast of the Americas, Panama City has long stood at the crossroads of empire, migration, and Black resistance. From early maroon uprisings led by figures like Bayano to the arrival of Afro-Caribbean laborers during the construction of the Panama Railroad and Canal, the city has been shaped by the movement and struggle of African-descended peoples. Segregationist policies and nationalist ideologies of mestizaje sought to marginalize Black communities, yet Afro-Panamanians forged powerful traditions of social organizing and cultural expression.
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Founded in 1519 as the first European settlement on the Pacific coast of the Americas, Panama City quickly became a strategic node in Spain's colonial network. As early as 1513, Africans were brought to the Isthmus by Spanish colonizers for labor, marking the beginning of centuries of African presence. Enslaved Africans were forced to work in domestic service, construction, and mule transport between the Pacific and Caribbean coasts. Resistance was constant. Africans organized shipboard rebellions, escaped to form maroon communities in the mountains and forests, and engaged in both collective uprisings and legal resistance. One of the most well-known maroon leaders was Bayano, who led one of the most sustained anti-colonial struggles of the 16th century. His rebellion prompted the Spanish Crown to make concessions to maroon communities in order to maintain control over the territory.
Slavery was officially abolished in 1851, when Panama was still part of Gran Colombia, marking the formal end of centuries of bondage. Yet freedom was constrained by persistent racial hierarchies and economic exclusion, and Afro-descendant communities continued to resist structural marginalization. By the late 19th century, Afro-descendant life in Panama City was shaped not only by these enduring legacies of enslavement but also by new migratory flows. The construction of the Panama Railroad (1850–1855) and the failed French canal effort (1870s–1880s) brought tens of thousands of Afro-Caribbean contract workers, primarily from Jamaica, Barbados, and other British West Indian islands. These migrants, many of whom remained in Panama, contributed heavily to urban life in Panama City. A second major influx arrived during the construction of the U.S.-built Panama Canal (1904–1914), when the city became a center of Afro-Caribbean settlement, especially as workers and their families navigated the racialized “gold and silver roll” payroll and residential segregation that shaped Canal Zone labor and social life. Panama City was not technically part of the Canal Zone, but bordered it. Many non-U.S. citizen workers, especially Afro-Caribbeans, lived in Panama City and in the city of Colón at the Atlantic entrance. Segregationist policies spilled into everyday life. Black West Indians were denied formal citizenship, faced housing discrimination, and were routinely excluded from U.S.-controlled zones, schools, and medical services.
Throughout the 20th century, Panama City became home to a complex Afro-descendant population made up of both "Negros Coloniales" (Black Panamanians with roots in Panama's Spanish colonial history, often bearing Spanish surnames) and "Afro-Antillanos" (Afro-Caribbean migrants and their descendants, often with English surnames). Despite comprising a large percentage of the city's working class and cultural producers, Afro-Panamanians were sidelined by national ideologies of mestizaje (racial mixing) that sought to "whiten" the nation and render Blackness as abject and foreign. The state promoted a "crisol de razas" or "melting pot" national identity that undermined Afro-Panamanian claims to cultural and political presence and belonging. Afro-Antillean Panamanians were especially targeted through constitutional exclusions in the 1941 constitution, which restricted immigration from non-Spanish-speaking Black nations and placed citizenship barriers on West Indian migrants. Although these articles were repealed in 1946, their legacy has persisted. Today, Afro-Panamanians remain underrepresented in elite political and economic spaces, and neighborhoods with significant Afro-descendant populations such as El Chorrillo and Calidonia suffer from state neglect, over-policing, and uneven development.
Afro-Panamanians in Panama City have long engaged in cultural, legal, and political organizing to confront racial exclusion and assert collective rights. Black-led newspapers, such as the Panama Tribune, became important platforms for articulating diasporic identity, civil rights advocacy, and critiques of assimilationist policies. Black women were especially active in shaping the press, contributing editorials, essays, and commentary that addressed gender, education, and racial justice. Labor organizations also mobilized around issues of wage discrimination, educational access, and inequities in the Canal Zone. Strikes and grassroots campaigns helped establish a foundation for broader Afro-Panamanian movements throughout the 20th century.
In the late 20th and early 21st centuries, Black organizing in Panama City intensified through coalitions advocating for legal reforms, state recognition, and anti-discrimination policies. The Coordinating Committee for Panamanian Black Ethnicity Day played a key role in designating May 30 as Día de la Etnia Negra (Black Ethnicity Day), and May is now widely observed as Mes de la Etnia Negra (Black Ethnicity Month), providing a critical platform for affirming Afro-Panamanian history, culture, and political demands. In 2016, the Panamanian government created the National Secretariat for the Development of Afro-Panamanians (SENADAP) to address systemic inequality. Yet community organizations remain the primary engine for cultural survival and political mobilization. One prominent contemporary initiative is the Red de Jóvenes Afropanameños (Afro-Panamanian Youth Network), a national organization of young people aged 16 to 35. Their mission is to empower Afro-Panamanian youth by fostering a strong sense of identity, heritage, and civic responsibility. Under the leadership of President Krystel Quintero for the 2024–2025 term, the network operates through various committees focusing on health and social support, entrepreneurship, historical memory and cultural identity, research and monitoring, gender and diversity, and environmental issues. Notably, they have launched campaigns addressing discrimination in schools, including advocacy against the prohibition of Black hairstyles like braids and natural hair, emphasizing the importance of cultural expression and self-acceptance. Through workshops, cultural events, and policy advocacy, the network plays a crucial role in promoting Afro-Panamanian rights and visibility across the country.
Artists such as Giana De Dier have been central to contemporary Afro-Panamanian cultural memory work. A visual artist and mixed media collage maker based in Panama City, De Dier interrogates the visual legacies of displacement, labor, and racialized misrepresentation. Her artistic practice draws on archival imagery to illuminate the overlooked histories of Afro-Caribbean migrants brought to Panama in the early 20th century to work on the construction of the Canal. Her work focuses on the lived realities of segregation and exclusion in the Canal Zone, particularly as they shaped Black women’s experiences. By reworking historical photographs that often stereotyped or objectified Black subjects, De Dier challenges dominant visual narratives and reclaims space for Afro-Caribbean memory and presence. Her practice reframes how Blackness, gender, and belonging have been constructed in Panamanian visual culture and historical memory.
● Red de Jóvenes Afropanameños — A youth-led organization promoting Afro-descendant rights, education, and cultural activism.
● Red de Mujeres Afrodescendientes de Panamá (REMAP) – A collective focused on empowering Afro-descendant women in Panama.
● Centro de la Mujer Panameña (CEMP) – A nonprofit women's organization based in Panama City dedicated to empowering women, preventing gender-based violence, and combating racism.
● Menina Congo — A digital blog platform founded by Ninna Ottey that centers and empowers Afro-Latin American women, particularly in Panama.
● Fundación Bayano — An organization dedicated to advancing the economic, cultural, and educational development of Afro-Panamanians.
● Society of Friends of the West Indian Museum of Panama (SAMAAP) — Supports the Afro-Antillean Museum of Panama, dedicated to preserving and narrating the history of Afro-Caribbean migrants.
● Afro-Antillean Museum — Located in Panama City, the museum documents the migration, labor, and cultural contributions of Afro-Caribbean people in Panama.
● Museo del Canal Interoceánico de Panamá — Located in the heart of Casco Viejo, the Panama Canal Museum documents the political, labor, and cultural histories of the Panama Canal from the colonial period to the present. While its official exhibitions have historically centered dominant national narratives, the museum increasingly includes materials on the contributions of Afro-Caribbean laborers and the sociopolitical impact of the U.S. presence in the Canal Zone.
● Secretaría Nacional para el Desarrollo de los Afropanameños (SENADAP) — A government agency created in 2016 to promote the development and visibility of Afro-Panamanians.
● PANAMAAFRO — A comprehensive and evolving registry of Afro-Panamanian organizations across the country, created to address the lack of an official state record of Afro-descendant groups. The directory includes legally recognized associations, informal community collectives, and grassroots initiatives that engage in cultural, political, and social advocacy relevant to Afro-Panamanian life.
● Coordinadora Nacional de Organizaciones Negras Panameñas (CONEGPA) – A national network of Afro-Panamanian organizations committed to unifying and empowering Black communities across Panama by confronting the lasting effects of colonial division and fostering collective strategies for cultural, social, and political transformation.
● AfroLatinx Travel (co-founded by Dash Harris and Javier Wallace) – A diasporic travel and education collective that hosts immersive trips, virtual courses, and digital conversations on Blackness in Latin America and the Caribbean, including Central America.
● Priestley, George, and A. Barrow. "The Black Movement in Panamá: A Historical and Political Interpretation, 1994–2004." Souls 10, no. 3 (2008): 227–55.
● Lowe de Goodin, Melva. Afrodescendientes En El Istmo de Panamá 1501-2012. Panamá: Editora Sibauste, S.A., 2012.
● Corinealdi, Kaysha. Panama in Black: Afro-Caribbean World Making in the Twentieth Century. Durham: Duke University Press, 2022.
● Flores-Villalobos, Joan. The Silver Women: How Black Women’s Labor Made the Panama Canal. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2023.
BCA is a platform dedicated to amplifying Black Central American history, culture, and scholarship. Through curated content, innovative programming, and collaborative initiatives, we explore the collective memory, cultural and political organizing, and creative place-making practices of Black Central American communities across the isthmus and its diasporas.
