About the Project

Zonian Incarceration is a digital archive which seeks to understand patterns of incarceration at Gamboa Prison in the Panama Canal Zone in the first half of the 20th century.

Using the Project

The intention for this project is to take both a quantitative and qualitative look at the information contained in the US census. In order to accomplish this, an interpretation of the quantitative population data - as well as an analysis of the process of collecting census data and the distinctions between “genealogical” and “historical” research - can be found under “Interpretations.” 

Over time, it became important for me to ensure that the people recorded in the census were not reduced to just numbers and statistics. For that reason, each individual listed on the 1940 census at Gamboa Prison has been indexed on this site. Their entries can be found under the “Browse Individuals” tab, and contain data as it was recorded in the census record and any other primary source documentation found for these individuals. Searches can be filtered by these different data categories, as well as the types of primary source documents that have been found. 

A Guide to Category Symbology

Race

In this project, Race is a complex topic. The way that the men listed on the census thought about or categorized their own race may have differed from how the census taker chose to describe them. In addition, the way that race was conceptualized in 1940 is vastly different from how it is conceptualized today. It is important to keep these nuances in mind when examining the data in this project.

The possible races that can be listed on the census in 1940 are White, Negro (it is indicated that if someone is "Negro-mixed" they should be written as "Neg" as one would for someone fully identified as "Negro"), Chinese, and Hindu - all of which are represented at Gamboa Prison. There is a an addendum to this list, where any race not listed should be spelled out in full (while the others have abbreviations - Wh, Neg, Ch, and Hin). The census taker for this year, Mr Harry E Pearl, did not divert from this four-race binary. A very generous read of this may interpret the data very literally - everyone listed as "Negro" may identify themselves as "Black" by modern standards, the same said for "White", "Chinese", and "Hindu" as "Indian". In reality, it is far more likely that Gamboa Prison saw a diverse mix of Afro/Latinx men who identified themselves differently than Mr Pearl defined them.

While I have endeavored to supplement these records with additional research whenever possible, we are not always able to look at each person’s record with a full and accurate account of who they really were. In browsing these records, I encourage thought, care, and attention regarding what history has recorded about these men and how that may diverge from their own lived experience. 

Level of Education

It is worth establishing the ways in which the census organizes levels of education. For clarity - 

0 years - indicates someone who received either no formal education or up to a kindergarten level 

1 through 8 years - indicates an "Elementary School" level - 1st grade through 8th grade. 

9 through 12 years - indicates years 1 through 4 of a High School level of education

any years 13 or above would indicate additional years of education at a collegiate level. A college education was generally completed in 4 years, recorded as 13 through 16 years. 17 years and up would represent a 5th or subsequent year of advanced collegiate education. The number of years of collegiate education does not necessarily indicate the completion of any specific degree. 

Marital Status

The census offers four options for Marital Status - Single (S), Married (M), Widowed (Wd), or Divorced (D). There is no indication that the census accommodated or accounted for any deviances from this list of options or what this means for any cultural nuances in regards to Marriage and Marital Status for anyone recorded in the census.