This memorial plaque commemorates enslaved African Americans of Deerfield, Massachusetts. The plaque’s 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. The plaque was dedicated and placed in the Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association’s Memorial Hall Museum in 2004.