This memorial commemorates enslaved African Americans of Deerfield, Massachusetts. Designer Shamek Weddle explains:”I was inspired to go beyond regions of ownership and time, a call to and from the past to the future and the present. The ‘call’ is symbolized in the African drum, communicating to all African Diaspora spiritual presence: past, present and future. My drawing allows Deerfield to join with all other national and international historic sites of the African Diaspora. The cowry shells focuses on African-based religion and values; and how a lot of those beliefs and values have not been completely lost even with such strong culture-killers as the American slavery system–hence the broken chain.” The ships that transported Africans across the Atlantic Ocean are represented at the base of the drum.