All that she carried : the journey of Ashley's sack, a Black family keepsake / Tiya Miles.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Miles, Tiya, 1970- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Ashley (Enslaved person in South Carolina).

Ashley.

Middleton, Ruth Jones, 1903-1942--Family.

Middleton, Ruth Jones.

Enslaved women--South Carolina--Biography.

Enslaved women.

Mothers and daughters.

Enslaved women--Southern States--Social conditions--19th century.

Enslaved persons--Family relationships--Southern States--History--19th century.

Enslaved persons.

African American women--Biography.

African American women.

African American women--Family relationships.

Memory--United States.

Memory.

Families.

Enslaved persons--Family relationships.

Enslaved women--Social conditions.

History.

Social conditions.

South Carolina.

Southern States.

United States.

Genre:

Biographies.

History.

Physical Description:

xvii, 385 pages : illustrations ; 22 cm

Edition:

First edition.

Other Title:

Journey of Ashley's sack, a black family keepsake

Place of Publication:

New York : Random House, [2021]

Summary:

"Sitting in the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture is a rough cotton bag, called "Ashley's Sack," embroidered with just a handful of words that evoke a sweeping family story of loss and of love passed down through generations. In 1850s South Carolina, just before nine-year-old Ashley was sold, her mother, Rose, gave her a sack filled with just a few things as a token of her love. Decades later, Ashley's granddaughter, Ruth, embroidered this history on the bag--including Rose's message that "It be filled with my Love always." Historian Tiya Miles carefully follows faint archival traces back to Charleston to find Rose in the kitchen where she may have packed the sack for Ashley. From Rose's last resourceful gift to her daughter, Miles then follows the paths their lives and the lives of so many like them took to write a unique, innovative history of the lived experience of slavery in the United States. The contents of the sack--a tattered dress, handfuls of pecans, a braid of hair, "my Love always"--speak volumes and open up a window on Rose and Ashley's world. As she follows Ashley's journey, Miles metaphorically "unpacks" the sack, deepening its emotional resonance and revealing the meanings and significance of everything it contained. These include the story of enslaved labor's role in the cotton trade and apparel crafts and the rougher cotton "negro cloth" that was left for enslaved people to wear; the role of the pecan in nutrition, survival, and southern culture; the significance of hair to Black women and of locks of hair in the nineteenth century; and an exploration of Black mothers' love and the place of emotion in history"-- Provided by publisher

Contents:

Machine generated contents note: 1. Ruth's Record

2. Searching for Rose

3. Packing the Sack

4. Rose's Inventory

5. The Auction Block

6. Ashley's Seeds

7. The Bright Unspooling.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards - Nonfiction, Winner, 2022

Other Format:

Online version: Miles, Tiya. All that she carried.

ISBN:

9781984854995

1984854992

OCLC:

1236902544