All That She Carried: Unearthing Love, Pain, and Privilege
Authored by UMIH Intern Patrick Fermin
Image of pecans on white counter top courtesy of Patrick Fermin
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
Expressing love between mothers and daughters can be difficult to encapsulate. How does one do so without flattening subjects or diminishing the emotions that intertwine two individuals together? In All That She Carried by Tiya Miles explores intergenerational love in its deepest degree against the backdrop of slavery in the United States. Central to her narrative is a sack embroidered by Ruth Middleton, a descendent of an enslaved woman named Rose. Rose gave the sack to her daughter Ashley before they were separated at the auction block. It was later passed down to Ashley’s daughter, and her granddaughter Ruth. The sack contained a dress, pecans, a lock of Rose’s hair, and, importantly, her love, an emotion that transcends both time and the forcible erasure of the history of enslaved Africans. Ruth’s embroidery on the sack resists this erasure; it renders this family’s history permanent and demands that it be remembered. She does not contain the love passed down to her within herself. Instead, she puts into words the story of Rose and Ashley.
Miles’ book engages with the sack to extrapolate the history of enslaved people’s experiences, reminding us of human resilience and resistance. Her inclusion of the sack points towards the duality of an item’s purpose for enslaved people. The sack is both a tool for slave work and survival, and a work of art. At one point, the sack was a utilitarian tool, made of the cotton picked by enslaved people under inhumane conditions. The sack’s designated purpose changed when it was given to Ashley, still made of the same cotton, but now offering a chance of survival, a way to continue. Once Ruth embroidered her message into the sack, it carried with it the story of Rose and Ashley, an experience that could have been lost in time but is preserved in a few lines.
Courtesy of Middleton Place via Wikimedia
Image of sack with brown, red, and green embroidery against black background
Just as Miles looks into Ruth’s embroidery and unearths with it the story of Rose and Ashley, we at the UMIH book club sought to explore Miles’ text. As a group, we examined the history of enslavement and asked questions as to what it was that Rose, Ashley, and Ruth carried throughout their lives. Collectively, we spoke about what we took away from the book, our feelings about the world and ourselves. As we embarked upon trying to understand the book, we fostered connections with one another, and a community was formed hoping to uncover the women Miles’ writes about. In the last meeting we tasted pecans, which connected us to the three handfuls of pecans Rose packed for Ashley. To feel the light pecans in your hands, packed with calories and nutrients that one could use to survive, was sobering, a reminder of a fraction of what Rose and Ashley endured.
The title of Miles’ book asks us to recognize what it means to carry, and the magnitude of carrying things to survive, but it also invites us to carry within us stories and memories that need to survive. Rose, at one point, carried Ashley herself, to sustain her life and make sure she was able to live through the atrocities of enslavement. Ashley carried the sack packed for her by her mother, someone she would never reunite with, imbued with the love that transcended their situation. Ruth carried with her this object, and the story of Rose and Ashley, putting it in words stitched on the sack given from mother to daughter. All That She Carried does not just apply to Ashley as she carried this sack from one place to another: it is all three of them, what they endured, the pain they carried, and the love they felt for one another even if the world did not want them to be loved.
Miles’ book is a powerful account of enslaved women’s lives, the things they carried, and the things they left behind. Many forms of parting are difficult, but the forceful separation of Rose and Ashley at the auction block reveals the inhumanity experienced by enslaved people. Yet, the book does not dwell narrowly on pain. It also breathes life into the art created by Black women and gives us space to feel love and warmth. I could imagine for Miles, being able to write about these women must have felt like a privilege. I know that being able to read an account such as Rose, Ashley, and Ruth’s was a privilege in and of itself.
Bibliography
Miles, Tiya. All That She Carried: The Journey of Ashley’s Sack, a Black Family Keepsake. First edition. New York: Random House, 2021.