Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division

The great majority of Afro-Caribbean immigrants entered the United States directly from their homeland, utilizing the extensive maritime links between the two areas. Even so, thousands made their way by a different route. They had first migrated to Panama, between 1903 and 1914, to work on the construction of the canal and, after its completion in 1914, they moved to the United States, joining their counterparts migrating from the Caribbean. Most of them were Jamaicans and Barbadians.