The United States is a nation of nations. Historically, its peopling has been due, in large part, to waves and waves of immigrants. Even its oldest inhabitants, Native Americans, are believed to have migrated from Asia to this then uninhabited continent. It is more likely that they, rather than Columbus, discovered this "New" World. Since then, Africans, Europeans, and other Asians have been settling in the United States of (North) America and its overseas territories. For its size and age, this country has experienced, and continues to experience, the greatest variety and volume of immigration in the world.

I happen to be one of these immigrants. Born in the Republic of Panama of a varied Caribbean ancestry, I lived, studied, and worked in the administered Canal Zone for much of my younger life. I belong to a group of West Indian immigrants who were recruited as the mainstay of the labor force for construction, cultivation, canal, and colonial company towns that were being established by the United States in Panama and along the Central and South American coastlands.