The Black Lives Matter movement that is sweeping the world, has its origins in the transatlantic slave trade of the 16th century, and new impetus today, to honour and preserve the resting places of those who were enslaved, and their descendants.  

Back in the 1990s, Peggy King Jorde was working as a designer in the New York City mayor’s office when she heard that a building slated for construction was due to be built on top of an African-American burial ground in lower Manhattan. 

Coming from a family steeped in the civil rights movement, she swung into action to preserve the site, becoming heavily involved in saving others across the world, including one on the remote island of St. Helena, midway between Africa and the Americas. 

Ms. Jorde spoke to Liz Scaffidi about her work, and the importance of the island to her own family history.