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All that she carried : the journey of Ashley's sack, a black family keepsake

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"Sitting in the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture is a rough cotton bag, called "Ashley's Sack," embroidered with just a handful of words that evoke a sweeping family story of loss and of love passed down through generations. In 1850s South Carolina, just before nine-year-old Ashley was sold, her mother, Rose, gave her a sack filled with just a few things as a token of her love. Decades later, Ashley's granddaughter, Ruth, embroidered this history on the bag--includingRose's message that "It be filled with my Love always." Historian Tiya Miles carefully follows faint archival traces back to Charleston to find Rose in the kitchen where she may have packed the sack for Ashley. From Rose's last resourceful gift to her daughter, Miles then follows the paths their lives and the lives of so many like them took to write a unique, innovative history of the lived experience of slavery in the United States. The contents of the sack--a tattered dress, handfuls of pecans, a braidof hair, "my Love always"--speak volumes and open up a window on Rose and Ashley's world. As she follows Ashley's journey, Miles metaphorically "unpacks" the sack, deepening its emotional resonance and revealing the meanings and significance of everythingit contained. These include the story of enslaved labor's role in the cotton trade and apparel crafts and the rougher cotton "negro cloth" that was left for enslaved people to wear; the role of the pecan in nutrition, survival, and southern culture; thesignificance of hair to Black women and of locks of hair in the nineteenth century; and an exploration of Black mothers' love and the place of emotion in history"--

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  • 39 of 40 copies available at Westchester Library System.

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0 current holds with 40 total copies.

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Book 1 Large Print Book 1 English 2 All formats and editions 2
Location Call Number /
Shelving Location
Barcode Status /
Due Date
Bedford Free Library 306.36 M (Text)
Nonfiction
31002150873288
Available
-
Briarcliff Manor Public Library 306.362 MILES (Text)
Nonfiction
31036150957014
Available
-
  This item was purchased thanks to the generous support of The Friends of the Briarcliff Manor Public Library, Inc.
Bronxville Public Library 306.362 M (Text)
Nonfiction
31004151827560
Available
-
Chappaqua Library 306.362 MILES (Text)
Nonfiction
31005600102133
Available
-
Croton Free Library 306.362 M (Text)
Nonfiction
31006151821956
Available
-
Dobbs Ferry Public Library 306.362 M (Text)
Nonfiction
31007151403852
Available
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Eastchester Public Library 306.362 M (Text)
Nonfiction
31008152445330
Available
-
Greenburgh Public Library 306.362 M (Text)
Nonfiction
31009154737930
Available
-
Greenburgh Public Library 306.362 M (Text)
Nonfiction
31009154811974
Available
-
Harrison Public Library 306.362 M (Text)
Nonfiction
31010300273523
Available
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Search Results Showing Item 1 of 352

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