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Title details for All That She Carried by Tiya Miles - Available

All That She Carried

The Journey of Ashley's Sack, a Black Family Keepsake

by Tiya Miles
ebook
1 of 1 copy available
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1 of 1 copy available

SHORTLISTED FOR THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR NON-FICTION
LONGLISTED FOR THE BAILLIE GIFFORD PRIZE FOR NON-FICTION
NATIONAL BOOK AWARD WINNER
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
WINNER OF THE CUNDILL HISTORY PRIZE

'An astonishing account of love, resilience and survival' Sunday Times
'A remarkable book' New York Times
'An extraordinary tale through the generations' Guardian
In 1850s South Carolina, Rose, an enslaved woman, faced a crisis: the imminent sale of her daughter Ashley. Thinking quickly, she packed a cotton bag with a few items. Soon after, the nine-year-old girl was separated from her mother and sold. Decades later, Ashley's granddaughter Ruth embroidered this family history on the sack in spare, haunting language.
That, in itself, is a story. But it's not the whole story. How does one uncover the lives of people who, in their day, were considered property? Harvard historian Tiya Miles carefully traces these women's faint presence in archival records, and, where archives fall short, she turns to objects, art, and the environment to write a singular history of the experience of slavery, and the uncertain freedom afterward. All That She Carried gives us history as it was lived, a poignant story of resilience and love passed down against steep odds.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    April 6, 2023

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Read

      • ISBN: 9781800818224

    • EPUB ebook

      • ISBN: 9781800818224
      • File size: 3129 KB

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Publisher's Weekly

      Starred review from March 22, 2021
      MacArthur fellow Miles (The Dawn of Detroit) paints an evocative portrait of slavery and Black family life in this exquisitely crafted history. She frames her account around a cloth sack packed in 1852 by an enslaved woman named Rose for her nine-year-old daughter, Ashley, when the girl was sold to a new master in South Carolina. In 1921, Ashley’s granddaughter, Ruth Middleton, embroidered the sack with Rose and Ashley’s story, but it fell out of the family’s possession and wasn’t rediscovered until 2007. Miles pours through South Carolina plantation records to identify Rose and Ashley, and explores the physical and psychological lives of Black women via the original contents of the sack: a tattered dress, three handfuls of pecans, and a braid of Rose’s hair. For example, Rose’s hair sparks a discussion of how enslaved women with lighter skin tones and longer, smoother locks were targeted for sexual assault by white men and violently punished by white women. Filling gaps in the historical record with the documented experiences of Harriet Jacobs, Elizabeth Keckley, and other enslaved women, Miles brilliantly shows how material items possessed the “ability to house and communicate... emotions like love, values like family, states of being like freedom.” This elegant narrative is a treasure trove of insight and emotion.

Formats

  • OverDrive Read
  • EPUB ebook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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