March 11th 2024 in News

An Evening with Tiya Miles: Author of 'All That She Carried: The Journey of Ashley's Sack, a Black Family Keepsake'

In this very special one-off event, in partnership with McGill University and CBC Ideas, renowned historian Dr. Tiya Miles will give a talk in celebration of her 2022 Cundill History Prize winning book All That She Carried: The Journey of Ashley’s Sack, a Black Family Keepsake, which traces the life of a single rough cotton bag handed down through three generations of Black women to craft an extraordinary testament to people who are left out of the archives. Dr. Miles 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—creating a singular and revelatory history of the experience of slavery and the uncertain freedom afterward, which serves as a visionary illustration of how to reconstruct and recount their stories today.

Dr. Miles will be introduced by Cynthia Cooper, Head of Collections and Research Curator of Dress, Fashion and Textiles at the Museum, who will explore how Dr. Miles’ work breaks ground for research that centres textiles within decolonizing narratives and inspires future directions for material culture studies.

In the second half of the evening, Nahlah Ayed, host of CBC’s Ideas, will carry out an interview with Dr. Miles for later broadcast on the programme, drawing on Dr. Miles’ earlier talk and exploring her work since winning the 2022 Cundill History Prize.

Get your tickets here.