Join us for a community read of the 2024 One St ate / One Story book\, \;All That She Carried \;by Ti ya Miles. Meet your neighbors and discuss the power of family history agai nst all odds. Copies of the book are available for readers while s upplies last.
\nThis special discussion is host ed at Central Library's Center for Black Literature &\; Culture (CBLC) and features a presentation by Dr. Tony Jean Dickerson. Dr. Dickerson is a nationally recognized quilter and founding president of the Akoma Ntoso M odern Quilt Guild of Central Indiana. She will speak to how artifacts like handcrafted quilts preserve family legacies. \;
\nAbout the Book: In 1850s South Carolina\, an enslaved wo man named Rose faced a crisis\, the imminent sale of her daughter Ashley. Thinking quickly\, she packed a cotton bag with a few precious items as a token of love and to try to ensure Ashley&rsquo\;s survival. Soon after\, the nine-year-old girl was separated from her mother and sold.
\nDec ades later\, Ashley&rsquo\;s granddaughter Ruth embroidered this family hi story on the bag in spare yet haunting language&mdash\;including Rose&rsqu o\;s wish that &ldquo\;It be filled with my Love always.&rdquo\; Ruth&rsqu o\;s sewn words\, the reason we remember Ashley&rsquo\;s sack today\, evok e a sweeping family story of loss and of love passed down through generati ons. Now\, in this illuminating\, deeply moving new book inspired by Rose& rsquo\;s gift to Ashley\, historian Tiya Miles carefully unearths these wo men&rsquo\;s faint presence in archival records to follow the paths of the ir lives&mdash\;and the lives of so many women like them&mdash\;to write a singular and revelatory history of the experience of slavery\, and the un certain freedom afterward\, in the United States.
\nThe search to un cover this history is part of the story itself. For where the historical r ecord falls short of capturing Rose&rsquo\;s\, Ashley&rsquo\;s\, and Ruth& rsquo\;s full lives\, Miles turns to objects and to art as equally importa nt sources\, assembling a chorus of women&rsquo\;s and families&rsquo\; st ories and critiquing the scant archives that for decades have overlooked s o many. The contents of Ashley&rsquo\;s sack&mdash\;a tattered dress\, han dfuls of pecans\, a braid of hair\, &ldquo\;my Love always&rdquo\;&mdash\; are eloquent evidence of the lives these women lived. As she follows Ashle y&rsquo\;s journey\, Miles metaphorically unpacks the bag\, deepening its emotional resonance and exploring the meanings and significance of everyth ing it contained.
\nOne State / One Story: All That She Carried/ Freedom Over Me is presented by Indiana Humanities in partnership with the Indiana Center for the Book and the Indiana State Library as part of Indi ana Humanities&rsquo\; Advancing Racial Equity Project\, supported by Lill y Endowment.
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