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Enslavement, separation & survival: the story of "Ashley's sack"

Tiya Miles explores what an embroidered sack bearing a heart-wrenching inscription can reveal about women’s experiences of slavery in South Carolina

Published: November 28, 2022 at 11:30 AM

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In 1850s South Carolina, an enslaved woman named Rose packed a sack containing a few precious items for her nine-year-old daughter Ashley. Ashley was then separated from her mother and sold, and it’s likely the two never saw each other again. This heart-wrenching story is embroidered on a tattered cotton sack now held in the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture. In this episode, Professor Tiya Miles discusses her Cundill prize-shortlisted book on “Ashley’s sack” and what it can reveal about women’s experiences during slavery.

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Tiya Miles is the author of All That She Carried: The History of a Black Family Keepsake, Lost & Found (Penguin Random House, 2021)

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Authors

Ellie CawthorneHead of content (audio)

Ellie Cawthorne is head of content (audio) at HistoryExtra

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