The United Nations on Wednesday remembered the millions of victims of the largest forced migration in history with the unveiling of a slavery memorial on its visitors plaza before global ambassadors and Jamaica Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller, Jacqueline Charles reports for The Bellingham Herald. Here’s an excerpt, with the link to the full report below.

Designed by Haitian-American architect Rodney Leon, The Ark of Return memorializes the estimated 15 million African men, women, and children who died during the transatlantic slave trade and the millions of others forced into plantation slavery in the Americas. Leon beat out 310 architects and designers for the chance to design the permanent structure at the U.N.’s New York headquarters.

Leon said the triangle-shaped marble structure was inspired by the theme, “acknowledge the tragedy, consider the tragedy, lest we forget.” He and his team drew inspiration from the maps of the triangular slave trade…