The Silver Women

In The Silver Women, Joan Flores-Villalobos highlights the vital role of Black West Indian women in supporting the construction of the Panama Canal through their essential social reproductive labor. Despite facing racial discrimination and segregation, these women devised strategies to sustain themselves and their communities, enabling ongoing migration and connecting Panama to broader Caribbean and American locations. The book explores how their efforts not only fueled imperial endeavors but also fostered resilience, kinship, and economic adaptation amid a complex web of racial and social inequalities.