Strength. What does that mean? For the slaves it meant keeping their family together, staying alive, keeping their faith, and knowing that some day things would change. In 1619 the first slaves came to Jamestown, an unknown world to them, to be bought and sold, to do hard labor, and to be treated as less than human. For any man this would have torn spirits and killed faith, but for slaves they showed their strength. Through the years slaves had been put down and oppressed, forced to be seen as less than man, to be more specific three fifths of a man. They held strong through their oppression. In 1676 one of the first slave and indentured servant uprisings broke out, Bacon’s rebellion, into a war proving that slaves and indentured servants could ban together for a cause. Strength was a key role in this situation, not only did it take strength to fight but courage as well. Through these different rebellions and uprisings in history slaves proved that no matter what they would fight until they were free. A memorial should commemorate all of these things: strength, courage, and unity. These things are what improved their way of life, through strength they stood to be such strong people, men. The strength not only kept them together but also kept their faith alive. Through this memorial I hope that when people look back in history they focus on those great things that have given us such amazing people. The memorial is designed, so that from the front view, it gives the illusion of kneeling legs gradually standing up, to show the progression from slave to man. The outer framework is made of dark metal squares put together to represent the patchwork quilts and essentially the culture that kept them together. The interior structure is made of oak wood to symbolize the inner strength. Along every other space there is a metal plaque that will have events or people that showed acts of strength, such as Bacon’s Rebellion, Mum Bett, David Walker, and the Underground Railroad. The progression will start with the first slaves in Jamestown in 1619 and end with the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863. The empty space in between plaques will be to internalize the previous plaque. The overall memorial will be facing the water, which symbolizes the new frontier for the slaves (now free men). The experience should be almost as if walking to freedom, as the slaves did. In hard times strength can be overshadowed by the evils and horrors that occurred, but we should be able to look back and grow and even add the strength that so many others, before us, had within them. We need to learn that they held strong and never gave up until they were free. Strength is never giving up until you stand.