This nine-year-old was enslaved in the US. Her story could help stop a chemical plant

At the age of nine, Rachel was one of many forced to live in enslavement on a plantation in southern Louisiana. As well as dozens of adults, there were other children, such as Susanne, age three, and Reuben, age 11.

What we do know for certain is that Rachel passed away before her 10th birthday, thanks to a sobering document uncovered not long ago at a Louisiana archive. It lists Rachel among many others who died while enslaved.

It is part of an effort to piece together the life story of Rachel and other enslaved people, and with that information, to strengthen a political and legal case for preventing the facility, named the Sunshine Project, from being built.

A key figure in this fight is Lenora Gobert. She is the in-house genealogy expert for a local environmental justice group known as the Louisiana Bucket Brigade. Gobert scours 19th-century archives trying to put faces and names to the gravesites where Formosa wants to build.

Formosa is still attempting to move forward with the project; however, the work of Gobert and other historical researchers is creating additional hurdles for the company.

By 2020, local environmental groups and archeological consultants had used historic maps to locate two potential gravesites on property that Formosa wanted to turn into a manufacturing facility for the chemicals used in products such as single-use plastics, N95 masks and drainage pipes.

In the meantime, Gobert is still searching for answers about nine-year-old Rachel. According to the documents she found, Gobert believes that the owner of the plantation where Rachel lived was attempting to get $31,700 (£27,761) in finance from a bank by mortgaging 28 men, 21 women and 26 children. The document says Rachel would have been worth $250 (£219).