All that she carried : the journey of Ashley's sack, a Black family keepsake
Miles, Tiya, 1970-2024
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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.
Main title:
Author:
Miles, Tiya, 1970-, author
Imprint:
London : Profile Books, 2024.
Collation:
xvii, 385 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (black and white, and colour) ; 20 cm
Notes:
Originally published: New York: Random House, 2021.Includes bibliographical references and index.
Awards:
National Book Award
ISBN:
9781800818217 (pbk. :)
Language:
English
Subject:
Enslaved women -- South CarolinaAshley (Enslaved person in South Carolina)Mothers and daughtersEnslaved women -- Southern States -- Social conditions -- 19th centuryEnslaved persons -- Family relationships -- Southern States -- History -- 19th centuryMiddleton, Ruth Jones, 1903-1942 -- FamilyAfrican American women -- Family relationshipsMemory -- United StatesSociety
BRN:
2688629