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

The life stories of enslaved people are crucial to a legal battle over a Louisiana petrochemical facility that could triple residents' exposure to carcinogens

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.

The details of Rachel's existence have been lost to time. But historians say that even at that young age, enslaved children likely would have been expected to work in some capacity, possibly weeding, looking after chickens or bringing food and water to adults in the fields.