The memorial park sits on top of an 18th century gravesite containing almost two hundred freed and enslaved African people.

[5] Jerome Meadows was chosen by the African Burying Ground Committee to create the memorial park design in 2008.

[7] In the end, the memorial cost just over $1.1 million which was donated by local citizens, businesses, and the city of Portsmouth itself.

[8] The monument occupies a pedestrian area between State and Court streets and includes: The entry piece to the memorial park is located to the North and is a large rectangular cut of granite with two bronze statues on either side.

[1] The statue itself is quite big, representative of the mental strength needed after experiencing the slave trade and journey from Africa to New England.

[10] He wears a simple pair of pants and shirt, indicative of the labor required of slaves to build the colonial settlements.