About Us

The African Diaspora Ensemble’s logo is the Akan from Ghana, one of the oldest African-American objects in the world. The drum is made of wood, plant fiber, and deer skin and is 41 cm high and 28 cm wide. It was collected in Virginia around 1730 by Hans Sloane, who acquired it from a Mr. Clerk of Virginia. The drum, with a body made of wood from Africa and a North American deer hide head, attached with wooden pegs and strips of hide from Africa, is believed to have been brought from West Africa to Virginia as part of the slave trade.

The Akan is a West African chief’s drum, it was used for dance music events by an artist of a high ranking in the slave community. The Drum's wood carving was done by specialists. Drums were prohibited in 1740 because white colonists feared their use for communication in revolt, as in the 1739 Stono Rebellion in South Carolina. Virginia preserved the African Culture from 1700 – 1800, with drums made of animal material and Wood. The drum is now displayed in the British Museum in Room 26, the North American gallery.

ADÉ uses this symbol because it represents a time when the enslaved actively practiced their West African spiritual and cultural traditions in Virginia. The Akan represents a time before work songs, field hollers, fife and drum, and spirituals. The rhythms of West Africa are the building blocks of all present-day African American music and culture. You find them in everything from movies and TV shows to music and theatre. We aim to help you discover new and exciting things to watch, listen to, and experience.