View SAMAAP’s calendar of activities for the month of May 2023, which includes events all across the isthmus of Panama. This month serves to highlight the contributions people of African descent have made to Panama.

Images of the Black Ethnicity Month 2023 in Panama

There were several waves of Afro descendants that arrived in Panama. First the ones that were brought directly from Africa enslaved by the Spanish colonizers; then the ones that came voluntarily from the Caribbean islands, first for the construction of the railroad, then for the French attempt to build the canal, and finally for the American canal construction project. The 2020 census reveals that about 32% of the population consider themselves to be Afro descendants.