00:00:09.340 - 00:00:37.260

My name is Carlos Allene. I am a descendant of one of the West Indian or Caribbean Biggers of the Panama Canal. The labor force that came to Panama from the West Indies. Uh, specifically Barbados. Um, my paternal grand parents came from the island of Barbados, and my maternal grand parents came from Jamaica.

00:00:38.040 - 00:01:09.660

Um, none of them, except that my maternal grandfather worked as a Panama Canal. Employees. Uh, my, um my father's parents were involved in other things. My mother's father was a carpenter. When he came to Panama, he came as a tradesman. So I am a third generation, uh, Panama Canal Digger Survivor?

00:01:10.440 - 00:01:32.860

Yes. I was born in ANC on Canal Zone at the only hospital in the Pacific Sile off the isthmus of Panama on the second of seven Children and my parents. My father was the Panama Canal employees for over 30 years. And my mother was a homemaker.

00:01:34.040 - 00:02:01.050

I'm goal. I grew up in in, uh, Gamboa Canal Zone. I was born in what was called older Gamboa and later on the town off Gamboa. No, Gamboa. I was born in 1941. The town of Gamboa was established in 1936. So I was born about five years after Gunboat was established.

00:02:01.540 - 00:02:34.420

Now the town of Gamboa was established as a maintenance site for the Panama Canal because after the canal was completed, one of the problems that it had was continuous slides rock slides into the canal because the canal was dug through, uh, kind of a rocket terrain, which, because they dynamited to build a canal, there was always loose, um, rocks that slid into the canal.

00:02:34.430 - 00:02:54.480

So even today, that's an ongoing problem, not to the extent as it was in the early days, but it's still on ongoing, uh, need for dredging of the canal because of rock slides. Now, my dad worked for the Panama Canal on one of those dredges that attended to the rock slides.

00:02:54.490 - 00:03:38.550

And that's where you worked most of his, uh, tenure with the Panama Canal Company. Well, um, there is, Ah, quote. I think it's called Corazon Del Mondo, something that s so I can remember the world. But I know it's the was referenced to a bridge that was built across the Panama Canal, saying that this bridge united the world because you could drive from North America and cross that bridge into Panama City and go on to Colombia, which is South America.

00:03:38.560 - 00:04:14.150

So Panama is seen as a crossroad between the two continents. Um, I think the building of the Panama Canal, uh, is what it is. Establishes us, one of the marvels construction Marvel's. But even today I still am a maze of the fact that it was started in 1904 completed in 1914 span of 10 years on, even today, with a new project of expanding the canal.

00:04:14.640 - 00:04:52.830

It's been going on for six years with all the newer technology, and in those days a lot of the work was manually done. Eso To me, it's very it's even more revealing as the whole amazing that feed of the Panama Canal construction was. Well, I grew up in Gambo Canal Zone, which was, Ah, community, I would say less than a one square mile on all those was so small it was, it was divided into U.

00:04:52.830 - 00:05:25.150

S. Residents lived on a higher terrain and myself another, our parents, Caribbean workers lived in the lower terrain. Now, in our section of town, I learned the meaning of being your brother's keeper. We had what we call them way now referred to as a village a very tightly knit community where people caring about each other.

00:05:25.640 - 00:05:48.170

And I don't know that you were You felt like you belong to a unit. Um, I was a very mischievous young man, and people would say to me, Are you one of the Allen's? Uh, what you're doing? Make sure disgrace to your family s O because everybody, you are always a part of something.

00:05:48.440 - 00:06:13.560

Whether it's a part of your family, part of community, you're always a part of something. You always represented something. So I learned early on the sense off belonging to something and representing something. I was representing my family because my brother Leroy, he's I'm from a family of seven Children on the second of seven.

00:06:13.940 - 00:06:37.420

My eldest brother, Leroy, was high achiever. He was very interested in studying and books when it from an early age. My sister was one year younger than I am Marva. She was also high achiever, and I was in the middle, so I was benefiting from their reputation, so to speak, you know?

00:06:37.420 - 00:06:55.770

So if I wanted to a classroom, uh, teacher met me for the first time. They would say, Well, that that's one of the lines on. It was a great expectations, you know? So so yeah, that sense of belonging to something on dure labeled by that force made a perform.

00:06:56.440 - 00:07:17.050

Um, we had teachers who were from the West Indies, um, Barbados and Jamaica on. They took so much pride in teaching that you're not learning was a reflection on their ability to teach. That's the way they took it. They never saw a child as being incompetent.

00:07:17.740 - 00:07:43.520

They saw you. They saw themselves as the one not having the ability to get a message across to you, so that forced them to put more pressure on us and force us to perform. Um, we didn't have, uh, classes, even for special ed kids. You know, today we're aware of a mentally challenged in this sense, and they were to, but there was no law.

00:07:43.520 - 00:07:58.360

It's the kids I know kids who were mentally challenged, but they sat in the same classrooms with us. They perform at their level. The teachers didn't pressure them to perform at any other level, but they were there, and they picked up a lot bios, Moses, so to speak, you know.

00:07:58.360 - 00:08:35.810

So, um, again there, the teachers and their pride and their sense of ethics they passed on to us has been invaluable. Uh, yeah. Sometimes, you know, questions like that I can answer with today's mindset. But at the time, it was joyful experience. Childhood were we had community leaders who took an interest in us, for instance, Stand.

00:08:35.810 - 00:08:55.570

What stands out in my mind is a gentleman who was are in charge of our physical education program. I found out later that he was a former Caribbean decathlon champion, and so we were exposed to Olympic sports like discus throw, javelin throw, uh, all the track and field events.

00:08:55.580 - 00:09:13.760

And in addition, tennis, soccer, football, cricket, all those other things. But this gentleman not only taught us these classes, we had to draw the dimensions of a baseball field. We have to know the distance, toe all the bases. We have to know the dimensions of a basketball court, the height of the basketball court.

00:09:13.760 - 00:09:43.470

We have to draw this tennis courts. We have to know the dimensions. So you're not only taught us the sport, the physical aspect, but also the dimensions and the regulations that govern these sports on DSO uh, today, you know, in today's when I'm looking back at that and I'm saying, you know, we really had a rounded education even though today, you know, most physical education teacher would address the performance.

00:09:44.040 - 00:10:28.860

But this gentleman also income passed math on other things that were supported for education. Because I went through the apprenticeship program. I know that Panama was equipped and ready toe handle the operation of the Panama Canal. Um, how do I know this? Because while I was a student from the Canal Zone schools, I went into an apprenticeship where there were also students who were educated in Panama City.

00:10:29.740 - 00:10:52.120

Um, myself and a few other students then have the strong background in the sciences, like math, physics, you know, trigonometry, algebra. Those things on these students from Panama City were the ones who worked with us and helped us to get through the program in those particular areas.

00:10:52.130 - 00:11:14.330

So I knew then that Panama had the capacity and the people who were trained well enough to be able to operate the Panama Canal. Now, when the transition took place, I was already living in the United States. But like I said, because of my experience working with these other people, I knew that Panama was ready.

00:11:14.340 - 00:11:37.900

And I think it was a fair thing to do. I think it was time. And I think that Panama has benefited greatly. Improved me, right? Because they're efficiently running the canal. Yeah. In the early 19 sixties, the Panamanian government came to an agreement with the U.

00:11:37.900 - 00:12:27.660

S. Government in regards to the training off, uh, skilled, uh, workmen for the Panama Canal. I did a four year apprenticeship with the Panama Canal apprentice school on. Graduated as a journeyman pipefitter, um, to my recollection, before that period of 1960 when these apprentices were trained, there was very little opportunity for skill employment by the Children off Panama Canal Caribbean workers, because jobs in the canal zone, like, for instance, policemen, postal workers, um, fireman.

00:12:28.240 - 00:12:53.850

All these positions were called security positions on the result. As a result, on lee, the American or White American workforce were the ones that got these jobs. Um, the generation that came before me, um there was very little work opportunities for them. Maybe the ones that went to what was called normal school, which is similar to junior college today.

00:12:54.240 - 00:13:23.320

They graduated as teachers on they got jobs in the school system. Um ah. Lot of them left Panama because during the Korean War in the early fifties, they allowed, uh, Children, our young men So, um, sign up to be in the US Army and quite a few of the Like I said, the generation ahead of me did that.

00:13:23.320 - 00:13:47.760

They got into U. S Army, came to the United States by ship. Of course, in those days toe Fort Dix, New Jersey I think it was the basics there, and a lot of them made military careers out of that opportunity. Now, before this happened, very few, all the people I know were able to come to the United States because you needed tohave.

00:13:48.240 - 00:14:10.370

Sponsors are relative in the States who could sponsor you to come to United States. Now, this military opportunity, um, afforded some of these guys to come to the States and become U. S citizens. Permanent residents, on a result, become the vehicle for other relatives to be able to come to United States.

00:14:16.440 - 00:14:44.910

Panama is a very diverse country. Uh, from an early age, I met Latinos, Of course, because Panama was once under Spain, their first independence was from Spain. Um, there was always Chinese in Panama. Greeks, Jews, a lot of the Jewish merchants in Panama. Lot of musical house, the house and in self textile.

00:14:44.920 - 00:15:15.260

You know, um, in our town, we had a Chinese, uh, produced Stan. We also had Chinese, uh, Maman shop mom and pop grocery store. So Panama, from an early age, we lived a very in a very diverse place, and eso it prepared me even today on none of that stuff is is new to me because of my experience of growing up in Panama.

00:15:15.940 - 00:15:45.030

Yeah, yeah. If I had to say anything about the canal zone, I would say that we learned early on, um, that there was division. I mean, that that came about the division of workers. We had the Golden Silver Workers. I can't say I was greatly impacted.

00:15:45.030 - 00:16:18.580

I think my parents and our parents, uh, experienced a lot of that discrimination Onda unfair labor practices. But they were skillful. They didn't come home and pass that on to us. Uh, I am talking about all this stuff from today's eyes. You know, at that time we had such a playful and joyful time, both with school church boy Scouts s o much activity that we didn't as Children feel.

00:16:18.580 - 00:16:50.080

The impact of this gold and silver concept was to my understanding. Based on the earlier wage scale, the Panama Canal Company, the Caribbean workers were paid in silver and the U. S. Workers or pay in gold. But I also extended to classifying the communities. Our communities were called silver communities, and the goal communities were the white US workers.

00:16:50.090 - 00:17:15.150

Um and so that was, um And now, for instance, in got more where I grew up. You had, For instance, the post office was one building divided into the silver. Workers got their mail on one side on. It was general delivery. You have to go to the post office as give your name as female.

00:17:15.160 - 00:17:35.580

The white workers on the other side had mailboxes. They come in and they get their mail from their mailboxes. The commissary again was one building divided into doesn't imagine Ah, US supermarket, for instance. Maybe your public supermarket here. Imagine having one big, long building divided into public silver and Publix gold.

00:17:35.590 - 00:17:58.080

And we shopped on one side. They shopped on the other side. Um, the school nine. Gamboa, they had the U S school and our local school in our civil community. But in 1948 um, for some reason, I don't know how the process took place, but are part of town was called Santa Cruz.

00:17:58.090 - 00:18:15.750

And the reason for that was toe to make a distinction between the gold and the silver schools. Because we as residents off so called Santa Cruz, we never used that term. Even today, we don't call ourselves being from Santa Cruz. We say we're from Gamboa because that was the name of a town.

00:18:15.760 - 00:18:39.060

On a matter of fact, when that Taiwan was established, the higher percentage of the population was Caribbean workers. Um, but I got to say, in 1948 uh, that section of town was called Santa Cruz Andi. Even today, we still don't use that term Santa Cruz to describe our hometown