Panamanian Americans

Panamanian Americans

Total population
206,219 (2018) 0.06% of the U.S. population (2018)
Regions with significant populations
New York metropolitan area South Florida Texas Triangle Washington metropolitan area Southern California Jacksonville, FL Fayetteville, NC Greater Los Angeles
Languages
American English, Panamanian Spanish, Bocas del Toro Creole, Indigenous languages
Religion
Predominantly Roman Catholic Minority Protestantism
Related ethnic groups
fellow Latino Americans, Spanish Americans

Panamanian Americans (Spanish: panameño-americano, norteamericano de origen panameño or estadounidense de origen panameño) are Americans of Panamanian descent.

The Panamanian population at the 2010 Census was 165,456. Panamanians are the sixth-smallest Latino group in the United States and the second smallest Central American population.

The largest population of Panamanians reside in Brooklyn and South Florida.

In contrast to other Latino nationalities, Panamanians are heavily concentrated in Army base cities. These cities include Fayetteville, NC - Fort Bragg, Killeen, TX - Fort Hood, Columbus, GA - Fort Stewart, Colorado Springs, CO - Fort Carson, Clarksville, TN - Fort Campbell, El Paso, TX - Fort Bliss and in the vicinity of Fort Dix in New Jersey. Cities home to Navy and Air Force bases also lay claim to a concentration of Panamanians. These include San Antonio, Hampton Roads, Jacksonville, San Diego and Tampa.

History

The number of Panamanians who emigrated to the US until 1960 is unknown, as the Census Bureau included them in the category of "others". However, it has been discovered that the number of Panamanians who entered must not have been very high, since in the 1830s, for example, only 44 Panamanians left Panama for the United States. However, by the beginning of the 20th century, the number of immigrants from Panama had skyrocketed to over 1,000 per year. After World War II, Panamanians entering the U.S. country was again scarce, but this changed in 1965, when immigration law allowed a maximum of 120,000 annual immigrants in the U.S. This law favored a remarkable migration from Panama, which made it one of the main migratory flows from Central America to the United States in the 1970s. Most of them were mestizos and Afro-Panamanians. In this migration, had many more women than men, although many of them were maids. For their part, the white-collar workers who went to the United States did so only to obtain a salary with which to help their families in Panama. Over 86,000 American people of Panamanian descent were registed in the 1990 US Census.

Demography

Race and ethnicity

File:Hulk Hogan Pointing.jpg

Hulk Hogan making his way to the ring in 1989.

Although, black people and mixed race black people only make up about 25% of Panama itself, up to 80% of Panamanian Americans are black or mixed race, far higher than other Latino immigrant communities. This is especially true with the Panamanian community in New York City. Immigrant communities from the Caribbean coasts of other Central American countries also tend to be heavily (unmixed) black, in comparison to more heavily populated "Mestizo" interior of Central America and the more solidly mixed "Mulatto" Spanish Caribbean islands. Although most Panamanian Americans speak Spanish, the group tends to identify itself more with English-speaking West Indian groups rather than with other Latin American groups. So those 160,000 people are mostly related to Jamaica and other Caribbean islands, than Panama its self. And most of them don't even speak Spanish ( the national language of Panama)

This tendency is most prevalent among black Panamanian Americans, which may be due to large Jamaican, and to lesser degree Trinidadian and Barbadian immigration, which occurred during the early 1900s, many of them retained their West Indian culture. A lot Panamanians (the 25%), along with Dominicans, Puerto Ricans, Cubans, Colombians and Venezuelans have higher percentages of African descent than other Latino groups.

Jobs

Most of Panamanian immigrants have low-skill jobs, mainly are maids, but the followed generations have a majority of college students and white-collar professionals, as well as people educated in vocational training.

States

The 10 states with the largest population of Panamanians (Source: 2010 Census):

1. Florida - 28,741
2. New York - 28,200
3. California - 17,768
4. Texas - 13,994
5. Georgia - 8,678
6. Virginia - 7,180
7. North Carolina - 5,708
8. New Jersey - 5,431
9. Maryland - 5,341
10. Pennsylvania - 3,234

Areas

File:Jordana Brewster at PaleyFest 2013 2.jpg

Jordana Brewster, actress

The largest population of Panamanians are situated in the following areas (Source: Census 2010):

1. New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island, NY-NJ-PA MSA - 29,619
2. Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL MSA - 13,529
3. Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV MSA - 7,322
4. Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana, CA MSA - 6,353
5. Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Marietta, GA MSA - 5,599
6. Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, FL MSA - 4,234
7. Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL MSA - 3,772
8. Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown, TX MSA - 3,350
9. Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX MSA - 3,162
10. Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD MSA - 2,841
11. San Antonio-New Braunfels, TX MSA - 2,663
12. Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News, VA-NC MSA - 2,658
13. Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA MSA - 2,556
14. San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA MSA - 2,384
15. Chicago-Joliet-Naperville, IL-IN-WI MSA - 2,300
16. San Diego-Carlsbad-San Marcos, CA MSA - 2,144
17. Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA MSA - 2,002
18. Baltimore-Towson, MD MSA - 1,877
19. Fayetteville, NC MSA - 1,788
20. Boston-Cambridge-Quincy, MA-NH MSA - 1,749

US communities with largest population of people of Panamanians ancestry

The top 25 US communities with the highest populations of Panamanian (Source: Census 2010)

1. New York City - 22,353
2. Los Angeles - 2,131
3. San Antonio, TX - 1,602
4. Jacksonville, FL - 1,165
5. Fayetteville, NC - 1,154
6. Miami, FL - 1,113
7. Houston, TX - 1,076
8. San Diego, CA - 1,018
9. Killeen, TX - 998
10. Chicago, IL - 883
11. Washington, DC - 742
12. Boston, MA # Hillcrest Heights, FL - 1.57%
13. Pemberton Heights, NJ - 1.40%
14. Indian Creek, FL - 4.65%
15. Lisbon, FL - 1.92%

Panamanians are more than 1% of the entire population in only four communities in the US, none of which has a significant population. As a result, Panamanians are one of the least visible Latin American nationalities in the United States.

US communities with high percentages of people of Panamanian ancestry

US communities with the highest percentages of Panamanians as a percent of total population (Source: Census 2010)

1. Virginia Beach, VA - 702
2. Miramar, FL - 700
3. Columbus, GA - 696
4. Pembroke Pines, FL - 676
5. Tampa, FL - 656
6. Colorado Springs, CO - 642
7. Newport News, VA - 615
8. Charlotte, NC - 608
9. Austin, TX - 607
10. Orlando, FL - 596
11. Clarksville, TN - 588
12. El Paso, TX - 551
13. Dallas, TX - 458
14. Philadelphia, PA - 737

Notable people

Tatyana Ali - actress and singer

Linda Martín Alcoff - philosopher

Ra Un Nefer Amen - founder of the Pan-African religious organization Ausar Auset Society, dedicated to providing Afrocentric-based spiritual training to people of African descent

Cirie Fields - American reality TV contestant, famously known for competing on ‘Survivor’.

Nancy Ames - American folk singer and songwriter; granddaughter of former President of Panama Ricardo Joaquín Alfaro

Gwen Ifill - American Peabody Award-winning journalist, television newscaster, and author, daughter of a Panamanian immigrant of Bajan descent

Braulio Baeza - American Thoroughbred horse racing Hall of Fame jockey

Cliff Clinkscales - basketball player

Tyson Beckford - actor and model

Uri Berenguer - play-by-play announcer for the Boston Red Sox Spanish Beisbol Network

A. R. Bernard - founder, Senior Pastor and CEO of Christian Cultural Center (CCC), in Brooklyn, New York; born in Panama and emigrated to New York with his family when he was four

Aloe Blacc - singer

Roberto Blades - Panamanian salsa singer

Rubén Blades - salsa singer

Jordana Brewster - actress

Pop Smoke - rapper form New York; of Panamanian and Jamaican descent

Jeff Buckley (1966–1997) - American singer-songwriter and guitarist; son of musician Tim Buckley; his mother was a Panama Canal Zonian of mixed Greek, French, American and Panamanian descent

Rod Carew - Baseball Hall of Famer

Eddie Castro - Panamanian-born jockey in American Thoroughbred horse racing

El Chombo - American-born Panamanian producer and artist

Billy Cobham - Panamanian American jazz drummer, composer and bandleader; Panamanian born, American raised

Emayatzy Corinealdi - American film and television actress

Ed Cota - American professional basketball player

Melissa De Sousa - actress

Ruben Douglas - professional basketball player

Roberto Durán - Boxing Hall of Famer

Adrian Fenty - American politician who served as the sixth mayor of the District of Columbia

Gary Forbes - Panamanian professional basketball player who plays for the Houston Rockets

Hulk Hogan - professional wrestler; of Italian, French and Panamanian descent

Sam Hoger - American mixed martial artist

David Iglesias - American attorney from Albuquerque, New Mexico

Shoshana Johnson - former United States soldier; first black or Latina prisoner of war in the military history of the US; Panamanian born and American raised

Clark Kent

Olga F. Linares - Panamanian–American academic anthropologist and archaeologist

John McCain - American politician, long-time U.S. Senator from Arizona from 1987-2018, and 2008 Republican nominee for President of the United States; was born in Panama to parents who were serving in the U.S. Navy, but raised in the United States

Stephen G. Melville - American actor of Afro-Panamanian descent

Scott A. Muller - American-born Panamanian Olympic slalom canoer

Sigrid Nunez - American writer

Demitrius Omphroy - American-born Panamanian footballer; of Panamanian and Filipino descent

Jeremy Renner - American actor; maternal grandmother was born in Colón

J. August Richards - American actor; known for his portrayal of vampire hunter Charles Gunn on the WB cult television series Angel; of Panamanian descent

Mariano Rivera - New York Yankees pitcher

Michele Ruiz - broadcaster and founder of SaberHacer.com

Christian Duke - American lawyer and activist

Clarence Samuels (1900–1983) - first photographer of Latino American of African descent in the United States Coast Guard and first to command a cutter

Tessa Thompson - American actress of Afro-Panamanian and Mexican descent

Daphne Rubin-Vega - Panamanian-born American dancer, singer-songwriter and actress.

Jorge Velásquez - thoroughbred horse racing Hall of Fame jockey

Nick Verreos - American fashion designer and contestant on the second season of the reality television program Project Runway; Greek-American father and Panamanian mother

Juan Williams - journalist and political analyst

Anthony Michaels - tattoo artist

See also

• Panama–United States relations

Further reading

• Dean, Rosetta Sharp. "Panamanian Americans." Gale Encyclopedia of Multicultural America, edited by Thomas Riggs, (3rd ed., vol. 3, Gale, 2014), pp. 449-457. online
• Dolan, Edward F. Panama and the United States: Their Canal, Their Stormy Years (1990).
• Mejía, Germán. The United States Discovers Panama: The Writings of Soldiers, Scholars, Scientists, and Scoundrels, 1850-1905 (2004).