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Love books? Join our discussion of both fiction and nonfiction titles. Books will be available at the branch one month before the discussion. Register online, in person, or by phone at 330.467.8595.
Join us this month when we'll be discussing "All That She Carried" by Tiya Miles
Sitting in the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture is a rough cotton bag called "Ashley's Sack," embroidered with just a handful of words that evoke a sweeping family story of loss and of love passed down through generations.
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." Historian Tiya Miles 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, Miles then follows the paths their lives and the lives of so many like them took to write a unique, innovative history of the lived experience of slavery in the United States. The contents of the sack--a tattered dress, handfuls of pecans, a braid of hair, "my Love always"--speak volumes and open up a window on Rose and Ashley's world. As she follows Ashley's journey, Miles metaphorically "unpacks" the sack, deepening its emotional resonance and revealing the meanings and significance of everything it contained. These include the story of enslaved labor's role in the cotton trade and apparel crafts and the rougher cotton "negro cloth" that was left for enslaved people to wear; the role of the pecan in nutrition, survival, and southern culture; the significance of hair to Black women and of locks of hair in the nineteenth century; and an exploration of Black mothers' love and the place of emotion in history.
The Nordonia Hills Branch Library is your community information center, providing individualized reference service and access to information for citizens while serving the four Nordonia Hills communities: Macedonia, Northfield Center, Northfield Village, and Sagamore Hills.
The library is a place to find computers and computer classes, WiFi, copying, scanning and faxing, and space for local community groups to meet throughout the year. In addition, library staff provides educational support and outreach to the Nordonia Hills schools, local early childhood and homeschool organizations, senior communities, governmental units, and other neighborhood service and social organizations. We offer a solid collection of books, movies, and music ready for you to borrow. We also offer regular and unique programs for all ages, often with a local focus or theme. Author visits, crafters, performers and gamers, teen meet-ups, Story Times, interactive nature and art events, a writers’ guild, wellness programs, and engaging discussion groups (including a Socrates Cafe), are all available at the Nordonia Hills Branch Library.
All of this makes the Nordonia Hills Branch Library your one-stop spot for the community's educational, informational, and entertainment needs and interests.
60 South High Street
Akron, Ohio 44326
330.643.9000
Our Mission: The Akron-Summit County Public Library provides resources for learning and leisure, information services, meeting spaces, and programs for all ages that support, improve, and enrich individual, family, and community life.
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