Our Silver Cemeteries Made it to the International “Endangered List”

This is a screen shot of the World Monuments Fund's landing page. Please visit it and browse through their 2010 Watch List.

We just had to break the wonderful news to all our readers and descendants of the Silver People who have been following our progress!

Our “Silver” Cemeteries here in Panama- Mount Hope as well as Corozal Cemeteries, the resting places of our historic Silver ancestors who built the Panama Railroad and the Panama Canal- have been included on the World Monuments Fund’s prestigious “100 Most Endangered Sites” for 2010.

Now, what does inclusion on this list mean?

A Continuing Saga

"M" Section Corozal Cemetery

An old, abandoned Silver grave in older section of Corozal Cemetery

Solely to ponder that our forefathers “The Silver Men” have, since the nineteenth century, been one of the key sources of economic and social advancement for the whole of humanity simply boggles the mind. That we continue to face historic segregation and discrimination, however, is still an awesome issue to be faced now as in the time of our ancestors. Though we were the hands, shoulders and brains of the world’s push for modernity, our sense of community has faltered greatly to the brink of disappearance. Today, nearly ten years after reversion, we still suffer the same feelings of isolation that our forefathers felt even after the inauguration of the Panama Canal.

The History of the Corozal and Mount Hope Cemeteries

The United States Government Isthmian Canal Commission’s segregated Cemetery at Corozal was the only active cemetery for its “Silver Roll” Employees even before 1914 when the construction of the Panama Canal was completed. The site had been a jungle and was then established as a farm to provide work for disabled Silver laborers, who also lived on parcels of land with their families.