All That She Carried

Discover the poignant life of a single object passed down through three generations of Black women, told with brilliance and tenderness in this National Book Award-winning book. A cotton bag filled with precious items became a token of love and survival in the face of the imminent sale of a nine-year-old slave girl named Ashley. Her granddaughter Ruth embroidered the bag with haunting language, preserving a sweeping family history of loss and love. Historian Tiya Miles uses objects and art to uncover the stories of these resilient women, revealing unknown facets of the experience of slavery and uncertain freedom in the United States. All That She Carried is a visionary tribute to the fierce resourcefulness of those who preserve family ties against steep odds.