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665 reviews for:
All That She Carried: The Journey of Ashley's Sack, a Black Family Keepsake
Tiya Miles
4.12 AVERAGE
665 reviews for:
All That She Carried: The Journey of Ashley's Sack, a Black Family Keepsake
Tiya Miles
4.12 AVERAGE
A cotton sack embroidered with spare sentences that encompass so much—separation, loss, hope, live. Dr. Miles, using a survival kit given from an enslaved mother to her daughter who was sold, constructs a history of life for enslaved women and men living in South Carolina. The paucity of material and written evidence made the narrative difficult, but through extrapolation from related sources, the reader can get a sense of the importance of not just the sack, but the significance of the items as well. I thought several of the sections, particularly on hair, clothing, and the domestic arts of needlework, cloth making, and sewing laid out so many hidden cultural messages. The accompanying materials enhanced her narrative.
informative
slow-paced
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
sad
slow-paced
emotional
informative
reflective
slow-paced
super duper informative, but the actual writing got repetitive after a while
informative
inspiring
reflective
Easily one of the most important and enlightening books I have ever read. Tiya Miles painted a clear and painful picture of life for enslaved women. I was touched many times by the focus on enduring love of mother to children and thoroughly amazed by her ability to gleam so much meaning from a single article. This has altered my entire perspective on the history of slavery in the United States and what it means to live in constant fear of being separated from family. Despite the subject matter, this book was hopeful.
Content Warnings
Minor: Sexual violence
I didn’t mind the general broad sweep of the book due to the nature of the subject. However there was a bit too much discussion of the philosophy of history for my taste.
emotional
informative
medium-paced
Read for my neighborhood book club this month. I had seen the sack on display at the NMAAHC years ago and been incredibly moved by it.
What an amazing book. This is a study of an embroidered sack telling the story of the female line of a family which crosses from slavery and the sale of a child away from her mother to the descendants being leading lights in Black organisations in Philadelphia and Boston. Beautifully written, the author delves into the known and the possibles using contemporary sources to illuminate lives that were not considered worthy of recording. It is a beautiful book, although the depth meant it wasn’t a light read and needed concentration. Short-listed for the Women’s Prize for Non-Fiction.
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Sexual assault, Slavery, Torture
Moderate: Rape, Suicide, Torture, Violence, War