“All That She Carried” author Tiya Miles visits the Libraries, Oct. 27

What story does an object hold? And how does its story help tell a nation’s story?

Historian and author Tiya Miles visits the Libraries on Thursday, Oct. 27, 6:00 p.m.-7:30 p.m. in the Hunt Library’s Auditorium to discuss these questions and to talk about her National Book Award-winning All That She Carried. The nonfiction book traces the story of a family keepsake—a small cotton sack—that was handed down for three generations and embroidered with a family history in 1921. Using this object, known as Ashley’s sack, as a catalyst, Miles pieces together the fragmentary archival information about the object and its history to tell a sweeping story about the resiliency of Black motherhood in the antebellum American South through the Jim Crow era.

Dr. Miles is a MacArthur Fellow and Harvard Professor of History. Her appearance is co-presented by the NC State University Libraries, the Department of Art + Design, Interdisciplinary Studies, the African American Cultural Center, the Women’s Center, and the MFA Program in Creative Writing.

The event is free and open to the public; pre-registration is required. Copies of All That She Carried will be available for purchase and signing at the event.