ALT In the background is an image that says "private property" and then text that reads Descendants of enslaved people on St. Helena Island in South Carolina brought a lawsuit today in an effort to preserve their ancestral burial grounds and cultural traditions at their community’s generations-old cemetery. Property owners have installed locked gates that, in violation of long-established South Carolina law and Gullah Geechee burial practices, prevent community members from exercising their right to visit, maintain, and hold burials at the sacred site, the suit says.

ALT In the background is an image of people walking in the rain with their backs facing the viewer. Above them is text that reads The Gullah Guchee descend from enslaved people from north and central Africa forced to work in the lowlands of the southeastern United States. Largely isolated, they developed their own language and culture in the antebellum era, and after the Civil War, St. Helena Island was one of the first places to welcome newly emancipated Black people. On St. Helena and the other Sea Islands, formerly enslaved people established self-governance, financial independence, and self-determination earlier than anywhere else in the country.

ALT An image of flowers laid on a grave, above a quote that reads: The Big House Cemetery has been in our family and community for as long as I can remember. It’s an opportunity for us to show that we just don’t love our ancestors in life, but we love them in death. Without access, we cannot mourn and honor relatives and other loved ones buried at the Cemetery.” Mary Mack Plaintiff, chairperson of the Big House Cemetery Committee