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Image for event: One State / One Story: "All That She Carried" by Tiya Miles

One State / One Story: "All That She Carried" by Tiya Miles

A Community Read About the Power of Family History

2024-07-16 18:00:00 2024-07-16 19:00:00 America/Indiana/Indianapolis One State / One Story: "All That She Carried" by Tiya Miles Explore a poignant story of resilience and of love passed down through generations of women against steep odds. "All That She Carried" honors the creativity and fierce resourcefulness of people who preserved family ties even when official systems refused to do so. Fort Ben Branch -

Tuesday, July 16
6:00pm - 7:00pm

Add to Calendar 2024-07-16 18:00:00 2024-07-16 19:00:00 America/Indiana/Indianapolis One State / One Story: "All That She Carried" by Tiya Miles Explore a poignant story of resilience and of love passed down through generations of women against steep odds. "All That She Carried" honors the creativity and fierce resourcefulness of people who preserved family ties even when official systems refused to do so. Fort Ben Branch -

Explore a poignant story of resilience and of love passed down through generations of women against steep odds. "All That She Carried" honors the creativity and fierce resourcefulness of people who preserved family ties even when official systems refused to do so.

Join us for a community read of the 2024 One State / One Story book, All That She Carried by Tiya Miles. Meet your neighbors and discuss the power of family history against all odds. Copies of the book are available for readers while supplies last. 

About the Book: In 1850s South Carolina, an enslaved woman 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’s survival. Soon after, the nine-year-old girl was separated from her mother and sold.

Decades later, Ashley’s granddaughter Ruth embroidered this family history on the bag in spare yet haunting language—including Rose’s wish that “It be filled with my Love always.” Ruth’s sewn words, the reason we remember Ashley’s sack today, evoke a sweeping family story of loss and of love passed down through generations. Now, in this illuminating, deeply moving new book inspired by Rose’s gift to Ashley, historian Tiya Miles carefully unearths these women’s faint presence in archival records to follow the paths of their lives—and the lives of so many women like them—to write a singular and revelatory history of the experience of slavery, and the uncertain freedom afterward, in the United States.

The search to uncover this history is part of the story itself. For where the historical record falls short of capturing Rose’s, Ashley’s, and Ruth’s full lives, Miles turns to objects and to art as equally important sources, assembling a chorus of women’s and families’ stories and critiquing the scant archives that for decades have overlooked so many. The contents of Ashley’s sack—a tattered dress, handfuls of pecans, a braid of hair, “my Love always”—are eloquent evidence of the lives these women lived. As she follows Ashley’s journey, Miles metaphorically unpacks the bag, deepening its emotional resonance and exploring the meanings and significance of everything it contained.

One 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 Indiana Humanities’ Advancing Racial Equity Project, supported by Lilly Endowment.

AGE GROUP: | Adults |

EVENT TYPE: | Multicultural | Book Discussion |

TAGS: | |

Fort Ben Branch

Branch manager
Shelby Peak

Hours
We're closed Monday January 20
Mon, Jan 20 Closed
Tue, Jan 21 10:00AM to 8:00PM
Wed, Jan 22 10:00AM to 6:00PM
Thu, Jan 23 10:00AM to 6:00PM
Fri, Jan 24 10:00AM to 6:00PM
Sat, Jan 25 10:00AM to 5:00PM
Sun, Jan 26 1:00PM to 5:00PM

About the branch

The 22,000 square foot Fort Ben Branch provides easy access to Library services and collections due to its location in a high-traffic community with access to public transportation. It includes community meeting spaces and study rooms, beautiful landscaping components, and walk-up, bike-up, and drive-up material return locations. Its roof-top solar photovoltaic system will provides 80% of the building's electricity needs. The Library was envisioned as part of a redevelopment plan since the land was decommissioned and transitioned from the U.S. military to the City of Indianapolis in the 1990s.

The Branch is the first library branch in the state of Indiana to become a Certified Autism Center™ by receiving an international autism accreditation through the International Board of Credentialing and Continuing Education Standards (IBCCES). 

Upcoming events

Mon, Jan 27, 10:30am - 11:15am

Mon, Jan 27, 6:00pm - 7:30pm
This event is full

Mon, Jan 27, 6:30pm - 7:30pm
Study Room 5

Tue, Jan 28, 4:00pm - 5:00pm

Wed, Jan 29, 10:30am - 11:30am

Thu, Jan 30, 10:30am - 11:30am

Sat, Feb 01, 12:30pm - 3:00pm
Study Room 5

Mon, Feb 03, 10:30am - 11:15am

Mon, Feb 03, 6:30pm - 7:30pm
This event is full

Tue, Feb 04, 10:30am - 11:15am

Thu, Feb 06, 10:30am - 11:30am

Sat, Feb 08, 10:00am - 12:00pm
Study Room 5

Sat, Feb 08, 2:00pm - 3:00pm
Study Room 5

Mon, Feb 10, 10:30am - 11:15am

Mon, Feb 10, 6:30pm - 7:30pm
Study Room 5

Tue, Feb 11, 4:00pm - 5:00pm

Tue, Feb 11, 6:30pm - 7:30pm
Study Room 5

Wed, Feb 12, 10:30am - 11:30am

Wed, Feb 12, 3:30pm - 5:00pm

Thu, Feb 13, 10:30am - 11:30am

Sat, Feb 15, 12:30pm - 3:00pm
Study Room 5

Mon, Feb 17, 10:30am - 11:15am

Thu, Feb 20, 10:30am - 11:30am

Sat, Feb 22, 2:00pm - 3:00pm
Study Room 5

Mon, Feb 24, 10:30am - 11:15am

Mon, Feb 24, 6:30pm - 7:30pm
Study Room 5

Tue, Feb 25, 4:00pm - 5:00pm