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660 reviews for:
All That She Carried: The Journey of Ashley's Sack, a Black Family Keepsake
Tiya Miles
4.12 AVERAGE
660 reviews for:
All That She Carried: The Journey of Ashley's Sack, a Black Family Keepsake
Tiya Miles
4.12 AVERAGE
This was not the time for me to read this. It is an amazingly well researched and presented premise but it dragged me down (probably as it should). I couldn't finish it but will come back to it at a later time. Very raw and revealing. We cannot NOT teach what happened in this time period! We all have to deal with this.
Dr. Tiya Miles shows her diverse academic background in the telling/writing of this story—Afro-American History, History, Women’s Studies. It reads like historiography; it leads readers who may not understand “how history is done” through the evidence, deductions, and comparable stories/data to educate the reader on the lives of black women, from those who were enslaved through those who lived in a racialized freedom at the beginning of the twentieth century. All the while, she is weaving a heart-wrenching, empowering story about a great-grandmother, grandmother, and daughter.
I think this book is important to any white woman who wants to educate herself in order to help create a more intersectional view of/endeavor in feminism. As I was reading this book, all I could think of is: this is the knowledge I need to be accessing on my journey towards better understanding the plight Black Americans instead of asking black women to explain. As an American History teacher who prides herself on including and highlighting the experiences of minority groups/marginalized people, I realized it goes so much deeper. It’s not enough to teach about the evil of slavery—the physical and sexual violence, the dehumanizing tactics, the deprivation. The southern states had laws about how black women could dress! The absolute control over even the minute details of life show not just the heinousness of white enslavers but the degree of oppression these women faced daily, decade after decade, and, in reply, the strength of will in their resistance daily, decade after decade after decade. This book helps to highlight how much I, other white women, hell—white people in general, need to learn and listen to black women.
I chose this book on a whim, but now I think it was serendipity. Grateful for this knowledge. Thank you for your time Dr. Miles.
I think this book is important to any white woman who wants to educate herself in order to help create a more intersectional view of/endeavor in feminism. As I was reading this book, all I could think of is: this is the knowledge I need to be accessing on my journey towards better understanding the plight Black Americans instead of asking black women to explain. As an American History teacher who prides herself on including and highlighting the experiences of minority groups/marginalized people, I realized it goes so much deeper. It’s not enough to teach about the evil of slavery—the physical and sexual violence, the dehumanizing tactics, the deprivation. The southern states had laws about how black women could dress! The absolute control over even the minute details of life show not just the heinousness of white enslavers but the degree of oppression these women faced daily, decade after decade, and, in reply, the strength of will in their resistance daily, decade after decade after decade. This book helps to highlight how much I, other white women, hell—white people in general, need to learn and listen to black women.
I chose this book on a whim, but now I think it was serendipity. Grateful for this knowledge. Thank you for your time Dr. Miles.
I first became aware of Ashley's sack about a decade ago. At that time, no in-depth scholarly investigations of the object had been done, mostly due to the fact that systemic racism assured that the lives of these woman and the event the sack memorializes would be ignored or intentionally obscured. Those of us who longed to know more about Ashley and Rose and Ruth, but who are not descended from enslaved people, were left only with our imaginations, which are not trustworthy on the topic of the enslavement of African people, as they are mostly grounded in myth and wishful thinking.
In "All That She Carried", author Tiya Miles uses her formidable historical research skills to uncover hidden truths in unexpected places. The lives of these women, and others in their conditions, are brought to light by way of examining the things that were connected to their lives - such as Ashley's sack - as well as the objects that bear their imprint. Art, and household items, and oblique references in period documents that point to the reality experienced by enslaved women are used to create a plausible, meaningful story of lives lived outside the historical record.
Miles also uses this opportunity to share her process of uncovering this history, tracing generations of women through enslavement, emancipation, Jim Crow segregation, the Great Migration. At the same time, she situates us within the larger picture of America's shameful history of family separation: from the Indigenous boarding schools of the 20th Century, to the Mexican repatriation in the Great Depression, to the ongoing separation of immigrant families at our borders.
I had to stop reading rather frequently, to sit with the secondhand anguish of being a modern witness to the atrocities of enslavement. But each time I returned to the text, I was rewarded with glimpses of joy, of resilience, of resistance, and of love. That is what kept me going.
Ordinarily, once I've finished a work such as this, it sits forgotten on the shelf until I get around to decluttering it. "All That She Carries" will not meet that fate. I have already opened it again more than once, to revisit moments in the story that linger in my heart. I expect to be haunted by this book for a long time to come, and I'm OK with that.
In "All That She Carried", author Tiya Miles uses her formidable historical research skills to uncover hidden truths in unexpected places. The lives of these women, and others in their conditions, are brought to light by way of examining the things that were connected to their lives - such as Ashley's sack - as well as the objects that bear their imprint. Art, and household items, and oblique references in period documents that point to the reality experienced by enslaved women are used to create a plausible, meaningful story of lives lived outside the historical record.
Miles also uses this opportunity to share her process of uncovering this history, tracing generations of women through enslavement, emancipation, Jim Crow segregation, the Great Migration. At the same time, she situates us within the larger picture of America's shameful history of family separation: from the Indigenous boarding schools of the 20th Century, to the Mexican repatriation in the Great Depression, to the ongoing separation of immigrant families at our borders.
I had to stop reading rather frequently, to sit with the secondhand anguish of being a modern witness to the atrocities of enslavement. But each time I returned to the text, I was rewarded with glimpses of joy, of resilience, of resistance, and of love. That is what kept me going.
Ordinarily, once I've finished a work such as this, it sits forgotten on the shelf until I get around to decluttering it. "All That She Carries" will not meet that fate. I have already opened it again more than once, to revisit moments in the story that linger in my heart. I expect to be haunted by this book for a long time to come, and I'm OK with that.
It took me a while to get into it and to understand the structure of the book. I recommend giving it some time!
challenging
emotional
informative
slow-paced
challenging
reflective
sad
medium-paced
dark
hopeful
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
dark
emotional
informative
probably the best historiography i’ve ever read. esp. impressive considering the vast gaps in knowledge and available resources. explorations of possibility and probability over certainty as a means to bridge the gap.
Read like a textbook - was hoping for more of a narrative
emotional
informative
reflective
slow-paced