All That she Carried : : the Journey of Ashley's Sack, a Black Family Keepsake

Locations
Call Number: 306.362 Mi, Adult Book / Nonfiction / History / United States / 19th Century / Miles, Tiya, Black Studies 306.362 Mi
On Shelf At: Downtown Library, Pittsfield Branch, Traverwood Branch

Location & Checkout Length	Call Number	Checkout Length	Item Status
Downtown 2nd Floor 4-week checkout	306.362 Mi	4-week checkout	On Shelf
Downtown 2nd Floor 4-week checkout	306.362 Mi	4-week checkout	On Shelf
Downtown 2nd Floor 4-week checkout	306.362 Mi	4-week checkout	Due 05-05-2024
Downtown 2nd Floor 4-week checkout	306.362 Mi	4-week checkout	Due 05-13-2024
Pittsfield Adult Books 4-week checkout	Adult Book / Nonfiction / History / United States / 19th Century / Miles, Tiya	4-week checkout	On Shelf
Pittsfield Adult Books 4-week checkout	Adult Book / Nonfiction / History / United States / 19th Century / Miles, Tiya	4-week checkout	Due 05-22-2024
Traverwood Adult Books 4-week checkout	Adult Book / Nonfiction / History / United States / 19th Century / Miles, Tiya	4-week checkout	On Shelf
Traverwood Adult Books 4-week checkout	Adult Book / Nonfiction / History / United States / 19th Century / Miles, Tiya	4-week checkout	Due 05-19-2024
Westgate Adult Books 4-week checkout	Adult Book / Nonfiction / History / United States / 19th Century / Miles, Tiya	4-week checkout	On Hold Shelf
Westgate Adult Books 4-week checkout	Adult Book / Nonfiction / History / United States / 19th Century / Miles, Tiya	4-week checkout	Due 05-18-2024
Downtown 2nd Floor 4-week checkout	Black Studies 306.362 Mi	4-week checkout	Due 05-18-2024
Malletts Adult Books 4-week checkout	Adult Book / Nonfiction / History / United States / 19th Century / Miles, Tiya	4-week checkout	Due 05-13-2024

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.
"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

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COMMUNITY REVIEWS

Dense history submitted by mowjac on June 29, 2021, 4:18pm Former University of Michigan professor Miles recounts Black history, women's history and Black enslaved history in this analysis of an embroidered cotton sack now in the Smithsonian's collection. She looks at how women's histories are often intertwined with physical objects and so are often overlooked. While Miles tries to make this accessible to the general public, her background and writing style make it a slow dense read. She gives vivid portrayals of what the world was for Black people who used the sack and I found it worthwhile reading.

Could not put it down submitted by crp on June 12, 2023, 2:26am This book is quite the undertaking, to research and report on something as simple as a sack that was filled with specific objects and non-objects, embroidered over time, and filled with questions. This is a wonderful read; I could not put it down. Very different from her other works, and also makes one think a lot about the historical time period the book covers in varying ways.

Fascinating Story submitted by emroon on July 11, 2023, 5:02pm I did not like this book as much as Miles; other book, The Dawn of Detroit, but this was my favorite kind of non-fiction book. It took something very specific, Ashley's sack, and used it as a tool to zoom in and our on different aspects of enslaved women's lives. I learned so much in this book. A fair warning, it is quite dense, and chock full of information. It was moving, and educational. I would recommend it to all.