INconversation with Dr. Tiya Miles

Join Indiana Humanities in welcoming Dr. Tiya Miles to Indianapolis on April 25, 2024 at 6 p.m. ET. Dr. Miles is the award-winning author of All That She Carried: The Journey of Ashley’s Sack, a Black Family Keepsake, Indiana Humanities’ One State / One Story selection for 2024. Like many of Miles’ books, All That She Carried explores history and memory and how engaging with our past can help us understand contemporary injustices and strive for racial equity. Her books have ranged from exploring single objects (like Ashley’s sack) to whole cities (as in The Dawn of Detroit) and investigating ghost stories to reveal the troubling histories that are perpetuated through haunted tours of the American South. Her most recent book looks at the women whose deep connections to the environment inspired them and, in turn, the world.

Miles will be in conversation with Dr. Joseph Tucker Edmonds, Associate Professor of Africana Studies and Religious Studies at Indiana University Indianapolis. This program is free and open to the public. Registration is required. Book sales and signing opportunities will the available. ASL interpretation will be provided. If you have other questions or accessibility needs, please contact Hailey DeWolf at hdewolf@indianahumanities.org.

This program will be livestreamed. You can receive the livestream link directly to your inbox the day of the event by registering for a livestream ticket.

ABOUT DR. TIYA MILES

Tiya Miles is the author of seven books, including four prize-winning histories about race and slavery in the American past. One of her latest histories, All That She Carried: The Journey of Ashley’s Sack, a Black Family Keepsake, was a New York Times bestseller that won eleven historical and literary prizes, including the 2021 National Book Award for Nonfiction and the 2022 Cundill History Prize. All That She Carried was named A Best Book of the Year by The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, The Atlanta-Journal Constitution, NPR, Publisher’s Weekly, The Atlantic, Time, and more. Her other scholarly works include: The Dawn of Detroit, Tales from the Haunted South, The House on Diamond Hill, Ties That Bind, and the recently released Wild Girls: How the Outdoors Shaped the Women Who Challenged a Nation. Miles publishes essays in The New York Times, The Boston Globe, The Atlantic, and other media outlets, and she has consulted with colleagues at historic sites and museums on representations of slavery, African American material culture, and the Black-Native intersectional past, including, most recently, the Fabric of a Nation quilt exhibition at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. Her work has been supported by a MacArthur Foundation “Genius” Award, the Mellon Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Humanities. Miles has also written fiction, including her debut time-bridge novel, The Cherokee Rose, a ghost story set in the plantation South and based on historical events. She was born and raised in Cincinnati, Ohio, and she is currently the Michael Garvey Professor of History and Radcliffe Alumnae Professor at Harvard University.

ABOUT DR. JOSEPH TUCKER EDMONDS

Joseph L. Tucker Edmonds, PhD is an Associate Professor of Africana Studies and Religious Studies at Indiana University’s School of Liberal Arts (IU, Indianapolis – formerly IUPUI) and the Associate Director of the Center for the Study of Religion and American Culture (CSRAAC). His research addresses the intersection between Black religion and the body, with a particular focus on agency, care, and wellness. Dr. Tucker Edmonds is a founding member of the Black Health Equity Working Group at the IUPUI Center for Africana Studies and Culture (CASC) and is currently working with the local NAACP branch and the 4 largest hospital systems to address the disparate health outcomes for Black communities in Indianapolis. He was the 2020 recipient of the Wilma Gibbs Moore Fellowship from Indiana Humanities which supported his collaborative, community-engaged project on the history of Black women’s agency and the Phyllis Wheatley YWCA in Indianapolis. His book, The Other Black Church: Alternative Christian Movements and the Struggle for Black Freedom (2020), and his recent research on Black evangelicals explore the role and importance of alternative Black religious spaces in the twentieth century. Prof. Tucker Edmonds’ community-embedded research projects and creative teaching have led to grants from the Wabash Center for Teaching and Learning, the Fund for Theological Education, the Woodrow Wilson Foundation, and the Lilly Endowment. Joseph is an advocate for equitable and justice-centered educational programs who works with several local school districts and serves on the boards of Indiana Humanities, the Lake Institute for Faith and Giving, and Horizons at St. Richard’s Episcopal School. He lives in Indianapolis with his wife and daughter.

ABOUT INDIANA HUMANITIES

Indiana Humanities connects people, opens minds and enriches lives by creating and facilitating programs that encourage people to think, read and talk. Learn more at www.indianahumanities.org.

ABOUT ONE STATE / ONE STORY

Indiana Humanities’ One State / One Story invites Hoosiers to engage deeply with Tiya Miles’ All That She Carried: The Journey of Ashley’s Sack, a Black Family Keepsake and Ashley Bryan’s Freedom over Me as part of a statewide conversation tied to our current theme. Learn more about book discussions and other related programs by visiting https://indianahumanities.org/arecommunityread/.

ABOUT THE NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE HUMANITIES & UNITED WE STAND

Dr Tiya Miles’s visit is made possible with the support of the National Endowment for the Humanities’ United We Stand initiative, which supports local programming that helps communities counter the destructive effects of hate-fueled violence on our democracy and public safety.

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