The Barbados Museum and Historical Society will stage an exhibition to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the opening of the Panama Canal, and the Barbadians who helped to build it.
Entitled: We Were Giants: The Story of the Barbadians Who Built the Panama Canal, the exhibition will open to the public at the Museum, St. Ann???s Garrison, St. Michael, on Saturday, August 9, and will be on display until Monday, February 9, 2015.
The public is invited to view the exhibition during the Museum???s regular opening hours: Monday to Saturday, 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., and Sunday, 2:00 to 6:00 p.m.
On display will be visual presentations of the history of the construction of the Canal and the vital role played by Barbadians. Viewers will also be treated to the narrative of the Barbadian experience in Panama through interpretive panels, audio visual media, artifacts and oral history accounts passed on to the present generation of Barbadians from their ancestors who worked on the Canal.
The Panama Canal project was undertaken by the Isthmian Canal Commission, which officially recruited 20,000 Barbadians as workers. Unofficially, it is thought that as many as 40,000 Barbadians travelled to Panama either to work on the Canal or to join their relatives in the Canal Zone.
Persons may receive more information on this event by contacting the Barbados Museum at 427-0201.
shamkoe.pile@barbados.gov.bb