All That She Carried Book Discussion
November 12 @ 6:00 pm
FreeDarla Haines and Angie Fisher of the Manchester University Funderberg Library will facilitate a discussion of All That She Carried: The Journey of Ashley’s Sack, A Black Family Keepsake by Tiya Miles at the North Manchester Public Library. Winner of the 2021 National Book Award in nonfiction, Miles’ work dives deeply into the history of a single object: a cotton sack embroidered with a few deceptively simple lines.
“My great grandmother Rose
mother of Ashley gave her this sack when
she was sold at age 9 in South Carolina
it held a tattered dress 3 handfulls of
pecans a braid of Roses hair. Told her
It be filled with my Love always
she never saw her again
Ashley is my grandmother
Ruth Middleton
1921″
mother of Ashley gave her this sack when
she was sold at age 9 in South Carolina
it held a tattered dress 3 handfulls of
pecans a braid of Roses hair. Told her
It be filled with my Love always
she never saw her again
Ashley is my grandmother
Ruth Middleton
1921″
From the sparse information contained in these carefully embroidered lines, Miles opens up the potential worlds of Ashley, Ruth, and Rose. Her analysis of the sack reveals what we can and can’t know about the past, particularly of Black individuals who were brought here by force and enslaved. The discussion will dive into the big questions raised by the presence of those few lines stitched on Ashley’s sack. This book discussion is open to teens and adults and free copies of “All That She Carried” can be claimed at NMPL’s circulation desk while supplies last. Refreshments will be provided by the Roann Paw Paw Township Public Library. All three libraries would like to thank the Indiana Humanities Foundation for sponsoring this event as part of 2024’s One State/One Story Community Read!