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pattydsf 's review for:
All That She Carried
by Tiya Miles
“‘Requiring caretaking and at the same time providing solace, ‘textiles are often mobilized in the face of trauma, and not just to provide needed garments or coverings but also as a therapeutic means of comfort, a safe outlet for worried hands, a productive channel for the obsessive working through of loss,’ explains one art historian. Fabric is a special category of thing to people—tender, damageable, weak at its edges, and yet life-sustaining. In these distinctive features, cloth begins to sound like this singular planet we call home. Cloth operates as a ‘convincing analogue for the regenerative and degenerative processes of life, and as a great connector, binding humans not only to each other but to the ancestors of their past and the progeny of their future,’ fiber artist Ann Hamilton has written. ‘Held by cloth’s hand,’ she continues, ‘we are swaddled at birth, covered in sleep, and shrouded in death. A single thread spins a myth of origin and a tale of adventure and interweaves people and webs of communication.’ “
“‘Harriet Jacobs described southern slave society as ‘a curse to the whites as well as to the blacks. It makes the white fathers cruel and sensual; the sons violent and licentious; it contaminates the daughters, and it makes the wives wretched. And as for the colored race, it needs an abler pen than mine to describe the extremity of their sufferings, the depth of their degradation.’45 Rose may have agreed with Harriet about the interpersonal rot endemic in a society built on slavery. Rose may have thought a great many things about her condition and the state of her social world that we cannot quite access.’ “
“But it (the bag) also possesses a quality so tangibly intimate and personal that it filters a light of remembrance on the XXXX own familial bonds, leading any of us to ask what things our families possess that connect us to our past and to wonder what we might gain from the contemplation of that connection.”
“Things become bearers of memory and information especially when enhanced by stories that expand their capacity to carry meaning. And if those things are textiles, stories about women’s lives seem to adhere with special tenacity even as fabrics, because of their vulnerability to deterioration and frequent lack of attribution to a maker, have been among the last kinds of materials that historians look to in order to understand what has occurred, XXXX&XXXX”
I read this book once and then skimmed it again. I will probably go through it one more time and may break down and buy it. Miles’ discussion about Rose, Ashley and the cloth bag does contain some speculation, but I believe this book is full of truth and history. Such a magnificent piece of hard, hard work. I am so grateful to Miles.
I read this book right after I read The Devil’s Half Acre by Kristen Green. Both books are extremely powerful and tell us some, but not enough about African American women and the impact of slavery.
“‘Harriet Jacobs described southern slave society as ‘a curse to the whites as well as to the blacks. It makes the white fathers cruel and sensual; the sons violent and licentious; it contaminates the daughters, and it makes the wives wretched. And as for the colored race, it needs an abler pen than mine to describe the extremity of their sufferings, the depth of their degradation.’45 Rose may have agreed with Harriet about the interpersonal rot endemic in a society built on slavery. Rose may have thought a great many things about her condition and the state of her social world that we cannot quite access.’ “
“But it (the bag) also possesses a quality so tangibly intimate and personal that it filters a light of remembrance on the XXXX own familial bonds, leading any of us to ask what things our families possess that connect us to our past and to wonder what we might gain from the contemplation of that connection.”
“Things become bearers of memory and information especially when enhanced by stories that expand their capacity to carry meaning. And if those things are textiles, stories about women’s lives seem to adhere with special tenacity even as fabrics, because of their vulnerability to deterioration and frequent lack of attribution to a maker, have been among the last kinds of materials that historians look to in order to understand what has occurred, XXXX&XXXX”
I read this book once and then skimmed it again. I will probably go through it one more time and may break down and buy it. Miles’ discussion about Rose, Ashley and the cloth bag does contain some speculation, but I believe this book is full of truth and history. Such a magnificent piece of hard, hard work. I am so grateful to Miles.
I read this book right after I read The Devil’s Half Acre by Kristen Green. Both books are extremely powerful and tell us some, but not enough about African American women and the impact of slavery.