Tiya Miles delves into the intersection of African American and Cherokee experiences, uncovering untold histories and connections. Her prose masterfully blends rigorous historical research with speculative elements, creating narratives that resonate with themes of identity, memory, and the enduring presence of the past. Miles's work is characterized by its profound exploration of the complexities of human relationships and cultural legacies. She offers readers a distinctive voice that brings marginalized histories to vivid life.
Explores the popular yet troubling phenomenon of ghost tours, frequently promoted and experienced at plantations, urban manor homes, and cemeteries throughout the US South. Examining popular sites and stories from these tours, Tiya Miles shows that haunted tales routinely appropriate and skew African American history to produce representations of slavery for commercial gain.
A Chronicle of Slavery and Freedom in the City of the Straits
The book uncovers the often-overlooked role of slavery in Detroit, revealing that it was not solely a Southern phenomenon. It explores the experiences of both native and African American individuals in this pivotal Midwest city, highlighting their struggles amidst national and international conflicts. Through meticulous research, the author sheds light on the complexities of unfreedom in a place that was both remote and central to broader historical narratives, challenging prevailing perceptions of slavery's geography in America.
Shoe Boots, a famed Cherokee warrior and successful farmer, and Doll, an African slave he acquired in the late 1790s. Over the next thirty years, Shoe Boots and Doll lived together as master and slave and also as lifelong partners who, with their children and grandchildren, experienced key events in American history.
Harriet Tubman is often viewed as a mythical figure, yet her true story reveals a resilient woman who defied the odds to escape slavery and lead others to freedom. Tiya Miles delves into Tubman's life, exploring her connections with nature and other enslaved women, while illuminating her profound mysticism. This intimate portrayal challenges the simplified narrative, presenting Tubman not just as a historical icon but as a source of inspiration for contemporary struggles. Miles' work offers a deeper understanding of Tubman's legacy and its relevance today.
The narrative centers on James Vann, a Cherokee chief who founded Diamond Hill, a prominent plantation in the southeastern Cherokee Nation. Tiya Miles explores its history, detailing the plantation's rise, its seizure by white land-lottery winners before the Cherokee Removal, and its subsequent decline. The story culminates with the plantation's renovation in the 1950s, providing a comprehensive look at the complex interplay of culture, land, and history in the context of Cherokee resilience and adaptation.
A renowned historian traces the life of a single object handed down through three generations of Black women to craft a deeply layered and insightful testament to people who are left out of the archives
In 1850s South Carolina, just before nine-year-old Ashley was sold, her mother, Rose, gave her a sack filled with just a few things as a token of her love. Decades later, Ashley's granddaughter, Ruth, embroidered this history on the bag - including Rose's message that "It be filled with my Love always." In this book, a historian carefully follows faint archival traces back to Charleston to find Rose in the kitchen where she may have packed the sack for Ashley. From Rose's last resourceful gift to her daughter, the author then follows the paths their lives - and the lives of so many like them - took to develop a unique, innovative history of the lived experience of slavery in the United States. As she follows Ashley's journey, the writer metaphorically "unpacks" the sack, deepening its emotional resonance and revealing the meanings and significance of everything it contained--Publisher's description
A National Book Award-winning, The New York Times best-selling historian shows how girls who found self-understanding in the natural world became women who changed America