Material objects representing Black history in the early days of the Americas are tragically scarce. After all, it was difficult for “people who were property” to “acquire and pass down property” of their own. The loss of such cultural artifacts also means the loss of the stories, histories, and memories associated with them.

Miles notes that Black people who lived through the transitional phases after the abolition of slavery possessed a unique recognition of “the world of things.” Having been treated as objects themselves, the ability to acquire and retain possessions was a cherished and fragile right. Textiles, specifically, held a special and tenuous place in the catalogs of ownership left behind by freed Black people. Cloth is fragile and prone to incurring damage, but it is also integral to many aspects of daily life: from the clothes people wear, to the blankets used to swaddle babies, to the shrouds used to cover the dead, cloth is rife with cultural meaning and symbolism. Ashley’s sack—and Ashley and her descendants themselves—represents a rare and precious example of fragile, cherished things surviving against all odds.

Miles notes that a sack is also full of symbolism, capable of holding many things. Ashley’s sack once held the things Rose felt were most essential to life, and now it holds a family’s story and legacy. As readers confront the many sociopolitical trials of today, Miles encourages them to pack their own sacks full of the stories, memories, and lessons of the past so that humanity can begin to right its wrongs and create a better future.