Gold roll facts for kids

The gold roll and the silver roll were two different ways workers were paid when building the Panama Canal. This system separated workers based on their race and where they came from. It meant people were treated very differently, even though they were all working on the same huge project.

Building the Panama Canal: The Gold and Silver Rolls

Two Ways to Pay

When the United States took over building the Panama Canal in 1904, they needed many workers. Skilled workers and managers mostly came from the United States. They were paid in U.S. dollars, which were backed by gold. This group was called the "gold roll."

Most of the unskilled workers came from the Caribbean. They were paid in local money, which was backed by silver. This group was known as the "silver roll."

Life Under the Two Rolls

The way workers were paid wasn't the only difference. Their daily lives were also separated.

• They picked up their pay from different windows.
• Their housing was separate.
• Their recreation areas were separate.
• Their transportation was separate.
• Even their health services were separate.
• Some post offices even had separate sections for gold-roll and silver-roll workers.

Making the System Stricter

The idea of different pay scales wasn't new. It had been used before by the American-owned Panama Railroad and by the French who tried to build the canal earlier. But the U.S. government made the system much stricter. This happened between 1905 and 1908.

Enforcing Segregation

The goal was to enforce racial segregation, which means keeping different racial groups apart.

• Skilled workers from the West Indies, even if they had important skills, were moved down to the silver roll.
• The gold roll was officially limited to citizens from the U.S. and Panama. This rule was made by William Howard Taft, who was the U.S. Secretary of War at the time. He later became president. He made this rule during his 1908 presidential campaign. He did this because American labor unions wanted it.

Impact on African Americans

A small number of black U.S. citizens were on the gold roll. However, they were not given the same benefits as other gold-roll workers. When they protested this unfair treatment, the canal leaders stopped hiring black U.S. citizens. By 1909, almost no black American citizens were left working on the canal.