Doroty King describes herself as having a “multiethnic background—African, Panamanian, American.” She was born in Panama in the early 1940s... After her mother passed, King was raised by her grandmother, great grandmother, and aunts. Her grandmother and great grandmother were from Jamaica and came Panama when the Panama Canal was being built. She married at 20 and came to the US in the early 1960s, moving to Augusta permanently in the late 1960s. She talks about the differences she noticed in America, particularly the segregation, which was painful for her to witness, the Augusta riots in 1970, and a racist incident at a local Seventh Day Adventist church.
She believes that the CSRA has changed and become more accepting of Hispanic/Latino people. She is happy to see that there are more programs with an ethnic focus. Augusta has changed—there are Spanish and Caribbean stores now. She finds that people are more open now to mingling with other cultures. She started a part of a group of Panamanian women that met weekly and held Panamanian Independence Day parties.
She hopes to see a world where people of different backgrounds are able to get along. She has been involved in ACHA, the Asociación Cultural Hispanoamericana, which she joined in the mid-1980s after being invited to their events. She had a Panamanian folkloric dance troupe that participated in local festivals. She sees ACHA and the group of Panamanian women that she was a part of as family. She grew up bilingual, but she enjoys being able to speak Spanish with Hispanic/Latino people.
This interview has been edited.
This is a scan of a 1996 Hispanic Heritage Month Fiesta program that Doroty King participated in.
This is a photo of a Kuna outfit that Ms. King sewed from fabric bought at a store in Panama. She sewed the costume from her memory of that store, where she asked a Kuna woman working there what fabrics to use to make the costume. This photo was taken in the 1980s.
This is a photo of Kuyni outfits Doroty King sewed from memory. This photo was taken at the Arts in the Heart Festival in the 1980s.
This is a photo of Doroty King and her sister, Barbara K. Headden, in Carnival costumes made by their mother in the 1940s.
This is a photo of Doroty King's sister, Barbara K. Headden, from 1965.
These are photos of of Doroty King's mother, Mavis King.
This is a photo of Geraldine Sampson, Ms. King's grandmother, who immigrated to Panama from Jamaica twice at the ages of 13 and 15.
This is a photo of Rosabel Sampson, Doroty King's great grandmother from Jamaica who immigrated to Panama. The date of this photo is unknown.
This is a photo of a display Doroty King created for Signal Towers in the 1980s. She created many cultural displays for groups around the CSRA.
