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666 reviews for:
All That She Carried: The Journey of Ashley's Sack, a Black Family Keepsake
Tiya Miles
4.12 AVERAGE
666 reviews for:
All That She Carried: The Journey of Ashley's Sack, a Black Family Keepsake
Tiya Miles
4.12 AVERAGE
This is a fascinating book told through the lens of a single object— a flour sack belonging to an enslaved person named Ashley. It’s part art history, part racial history, part generational drama and all beautifully written. It is dense— feeling like a thesis or an excellent symposium lecture— but I was enthralled and learned so much. I love the care the author took in exploring all the little details and how they speak, even now.
4 stars.
My stepsister (who read over 200 books in 2023) gave this book the honor of the title favorite read of the year, so obviously, I had to put it at the top of my TBR.
This is a heavy book. It dives into racial history, female customs, patriarchy, familial ties, and honor, and without question, the weight of slavery on inheritance, specifically for women.
I really enjoyed this book and the narrator was phenomenal.
My stepsister (who read over 200 books in 2023) gave this book the honor of the title favorite read of the year, so obviously, I had to put it at the top of my TBR.
This is a heavy book. It dives into racial history, female customs, patriarchy, familial ties, and honor, and without question, the weight of slavery on inheritance, specifically for women.
I really enjoyed this book and the narrator was phenomenal.
challenging
emotional
informative
sad
medium-paced
Miles is a wonderful writer and I loved the concept of this book. It was great to listen to, as I really felt as though I was being immersed in the story and could feel the locations, sense the history vibrating through the air. I wasn't familiar with the sack itself or its place in a museum or in history, but it was fascinating to get to learn about it in this format.
That said, I did feel at times that this book felt less like a deep historical dive or research project, and more like a narrative that was taking the scant evidence available and spinning a possible story. Which is meaningful in its own way, but perhaps not exactly what I was expecting going in. It isn't a huge surprise that there is a lack of primary sources when dealing with the history of enslaved people in America. Many families can only be traced so far back before the trail goes cold. The recreation of who Rose and Ashley were thus had to draw from a lot of assumptions and likely paths, but they weren't necessarily rooted in fact. This left a lot of the book to be filled with context and history of the area, of plantations, of the slave owners which is useful, but not necessarily what I was reading for.
So all-in-all, this was a really powerful story, but it did feel a bit stretched thin for a full length book/audiobook. Had I read this as a longform article, I think it would have had the impact I expected it to. But I still think it was a deserving winner of the National Book Award, and I'd be very interested in seeing what other stories and histories Miles explores next. (Also, this book has me determined to finally visit the National Museum of African American History and Culture, where Ashley's Sack has been on display since 2016).
That said, I did feel at times that this book felt less like a deep historical dive or research project, and more like a narrative that was taking the scant evidence available and spinning a possible story. Which is meaningful in its own way, but perhaps not exactly what I was expecting going in. It isn't a huge surprise that there is a lack of primary sources when dealing with the history of enslaved people in America. Many families can only be traced so far back before the trail goes cold. The recreation of who Rose and Ashley were thus had to draw from a lot of assumptions and likely paths, but they weren't necessarily rooted in fact. This left a lot of the book to be filled with context and history of the area, of plantations, of the slave owners which is useful, but not necessarily what I was reading for.
So all-in-all, this was a really powerful story, but it did feel a bit stretched thin for a full length book/audiobook. Had I read this as a longform article, I think it would have had the impact I expected it to. But I still think it was a deserving winner of the National Book Award, and I'd be very interested in seeing what other stories and histories Miles explores next. (Also, this book has me determined to finally visit the National Museum of African American History and Culture, where Ashley's Sack has been on display since 2016).
emotional
informative
reflective
medium-paced
This was a difficult book to rate. I didn't like it. I found it tedious and repetitive throughout, and downright boring in parts. However, that's probably just me. I wanted to find out about Ashley's keepsake sack, but the information the author has is both too little and way, way too much. Going back to the founding of the Carolinas, we learn about rice crops and cotton textiles, the advent of enslaved Africans in the area, and all of the ways in which they suffered. We learn when and how the sack was made and what it was originally intended to carry. Or rather, what sacks of its kind were meant to carry, because this is one anonymous sack among thousands that were produced.
As for this sack, we know the information that was embroidered on it by a descendant of Ashley. And that's pretty much it. The author goes through slave sale records and estate inventories in search of any clues re: what became of Ashley and her mother, Rose, and comes up empty. There's a lot of guesswork, but since neither name is particularly uncommon, and slaves who died went unrecorded in both sales records, not being saleable, and estate inventories, see above, there's not actually any solid evidence, beyond the embroidery on the sack, of the existence of either of these women. The author tries to follow the trail of this Rose and that Ashley, but she's just guessing. There's no way to know if any of the Roses or Ashleys she attempts to trace are the ones she's looking for. That small tragedy is the most significant aspect of the book, in my opinion, and while the author acknowledges and speaks of this tragedy, she also seems to gloss over it in her eagerness to ascribe a lineage to the sack.
Except for the mind-numbing repetitiveness of the introduction and first chapter, the information is correct and useful, as far as what can be known. But none of it is new to me, and the way it's arranged with a pinpoint focus on South Carolina is frustratingly narrow. I suppose it would be interesting for someone who is new to US history, who has never heard of African chattel slavery, or who reads one book every February for Black History Month. But I already knew this stuff. I came looking for Ashley, and Ashley isn't here.
As for this sack, we know the information that was embroidered on it by a descendant of Ashley. And that's pretty much it. The author goes through slave sale records and estate inventories in search of any clues re: what became of Ashley and her mother, Rose, and comes up empty. There's a lot of guesswork, but since neither name is particularly uncommon, and slaves who died went unrecorded in both sales records, not being saleable, and estate inventories, see above, there's not actually any solid evidence, beyond the embroidery on the sack, of the existence of either of these women. The author tries to follow the trail of this Rose and that Ashley, but she's just guessing. There's no way to know if any of the Roses or Ashleys she attempts to trace are the ones she's looking for. That small tragedy is the most significant aspect of the book, in my opinion, and while the author acknowledges and speaks of this tragedy, she also seems to gloss over it in her eagerness to ascribe a lineage to the sack.
Except for the mind-numbing repetitiveness of the introduction and first chapter, the information is correct and useful, as far as what can be known. But none of it is new to me, and the way it's arranged with a pinpoint focus on South Carolina is frustratingly narrow. I suppose it would be interesting for someone who is new to US history, who has never heard of African chattel slavery, or who reads one book every February for Black History Month. But I already knew this stuff. I came looking for Ashley, and Ashley isn't here.
A journey into the intimacies of slavery that I'd never known before. Using Ruth's tote as a medium, Miles take us on an equally enlightening and tragic tale of a mothers persistent love prevailing over insurmountable obstacles. For me, no text or non-fiction book has ever painted the tales of southern slavery in the 1700's and forward like Tiya Miles. This is a must read.
Tiya Miles has woven a beautifully researched intimate portrait of the lives of generations of black women, from the formerly enslaved to the turn of the 20th century. She zooms in on the personal and intimate aspects of these women's lives, never losing their uniqueness and individual identities, as she also zooms out to the greater context of the lives of black women throughout American history. Highly recommend: lyrical writing, and shows a labor of love that is very worth the read.