All that she carried : the journey of Ashley's sack, a Black family keepsake / Tiya Miles.
Edition:
Random House Trade Paperback edition.
Publisher:
Random House,
Copyright Date:
2022
Description:
xvii, 385 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (some color) ; 21 cm
Notes:
Includes bibliographical references (pages 305-374) and index.
Contents:
Prologue: Emergency packs -- Introduction: Love's practitioners -- Ruth's record -- Searching for Rose -- Packing the sack -- Rose's inventory -- The auction block -- Ashley's seeds -- The bright unspooling -- Conclusion: It be filled -- Sampler : a note on terms -- Little sack of something : an essay on process.
Summary:
"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... 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"-- From the publisher's description.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.