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Articles by Tiya Miles
Il sacco di Ashley di Tiya Miles
Può un oggetto raccontare la vita di una persona o di una famiglia? Sì, può e lo dimostra il libro Il sacco di Ashley di Tiya Miles, edito nel 2026 da Iperborea (Collana “I Corvi”), con la traduzione di Norman Gobetti. La storia si sviluppa nel Sud degli Stati Uniti dove Rose, una donna in schiavitù, viene a sapere che la figlia Ashley di soli nove anni sarà presto venduta.
These sweet books can bring a little kindness into your life
Published December 17th, 2025, 06:00 pm Episode 225: As digital noise continues to shape modern life, the latest episode of “The Ethical Life” turns inward, offering listeners a wide-angle look at how ancient ideas can help people navigate an era marked by distraction, isolation and growing cultural tension.
These sweet books can bring a little kindness into your life
For a respite from the onslaught of terrible news, may we suggest something with a little kindness and grace? The following list includes picture books, middle-grade titles and novels intended for adults.
The Wisdom of Harry Potter
Things Worth Remembering: The Wisdom of Harry Potter The series taught a generation that honor matters. Welcome to Things Worth Remembering, in which writers share a poem or a paragraph that all of us should commit to heart. This week, in the run-up to Halloween, Tiya Miles has a series about witches, ghosts, monsters, and magic on her mind. Here she reflects on the tales of Harry Potter—and what they teach kids about power, and those who seek it.
'James' Is a Masterpiece
Things Worth Remembering: ‘James’ Is a Masterpiece This year’s Pulitzer Prize for fiction went to Percival Everett’s novel, which deserves every award in literature. Welcome to Things Worth Remembering, in which writers share a poem or a paragraph that all of us should commit to heart. This week Tiya Miles writes about Percival Everett’s novel James, a retelling of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, which won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction earlier this month.
BOOK REVIEW: 'Night Flyer'
Harriet Tubman was born about 1820, one of many children of Harriet Greene and Benjamin Ross, a slave couple owned by Edward Brodas of Dorchester County, Maryland. At age 13 or 14, Tubman, while trying to protect another slave from the brutality of a cruel overseer, was struck with a 2-pound weight that fractured her skull and would result in Tubman having frequent sleeping spells, headaches, and seizures for the remainder of her life.
Check Out The 2025 National Book Critics Circle Finalists
The finalists for the 2025 National Book Critics Circle Awards were announced today. The 30 finalists are spread across six categories — which include autobiography, biography, criticism, fiction, general nonfiction, and poetry — and were published in 2024. In addition to the above categories, the National Book Critics Circle also announced the finalists for the John Leonard Prize for Best First Book, which is awarded by the organization’s membership.
Black History Month Reading List - Women's Prize
Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Find out more Winner of the Women’s Prize for Fiction 2006 Crowned our winner of winners in a public vote for the 25th anniversary of the prize, Half of a Yellow Sun is an iconic must-read book. Set against the brutal backdrop of the Nigerian Civil War, this is a novel about Africa in a wider sense: about the end of colonialism, ethnic allegiances, class and race.
Review: Tiya Miles explores the spirituality of Harriet Tubman in 'Night Flyer'
Harriet Tubman, the subject of scholarly works, graphic novels and Hollywood movies, is as well known to grade-school students as she is to viewers of public TV documentaries. In the coming years, as she replaces Andrew Jackson on the $20 bill soon, her image will be carried in millions of American wallets. What more is there to say about such a familiar historical figure? Plenty, it turns out. kAmx? “}:89E u=J6Ci w2CC:6E %F3>2?
DNC wraps up, Black Crossword pub date, and Black male voters
Despite what social media may have you believe, Black male voters are traditionally some of the most consistent Democratic voters in the country. However, both parties see Black men — those under 40, in particular — as attainable voters. For the Associated Press, Matt Brown explored this key demographic.
7 Thrilling Tales That Upturn What We Know about Black History - Electric Literature
When most folks hear the word “archive,” they picture a dusty library folder…but when scholars use the word, sometimes they mean it in a different sense. For them, “the Black Archive” certainly refers to the papers and documents that track lives and deeds. But scholars, or at least new generations of scholars and writers, also see it as something messier and more imaginary. You don’t necessarily go to a library and pull up a call number for a file with this kind of archive.
We Owe It to Harriet Tubman to Talk About Her Disability
How much do you know about Araminta Ross? Her face is slated to start appearing on the twenty dollar bill by 2030. She’s the first American woman in history to lead a military raid that emancipated over 700 people, and one of the most important abolitionists in history. You might know her by another name: Harriet Tubman. But when it comes to Harriet Tubman’s legacy, an important part of her lived experience is often overlooked: her disability.
Review: Tiya Miles explores the spirituality of Harriet Tubman in 'Night Flyer'
Harriet Tubman, the subject of scholarly works, graphic novels and Hollywood movies, is as well known to grade-school students as she is to viewers of public TV documentaries. In the coming years, as she replaces Andrew Jackson on the $20 bill soon, her image will be carried in millions of American wallets. What more is there to say about such a familiar historical figure? Plenty, it turns out.
How a Young Harriet Tubman Found Solace in Syncretic Religion
Childhood trauma led Minty Ross (Harriet Tubman) to seek divine intervention. This was an experience, and a reaction, that she shared with other unfree girls. Black women who published spiritual memoirs in the nineteenth century spoke of early separations from parents, states of captivity as slaves or servants, and appeals to the God of their belief that echoed Minty’s.
How a Young Harriet Tubman Found Solace in Syncretic Religion
Welcome to NewsBreak, an open platform where diverse perspectives converge. Most of our content comes from established publications and journalists, as well as from our extensive network of tens of thousands of creators who contribute to our platform. We empower individuals to share insightful viewpoints through short posts and comments.
How Harriet Tubman relied on nature to bring the enslaved to freedom
This article is adapted from “Night Flyer,” which is being published Tuesday by Penguin Press, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC. Copyright (C) 2024 by Tiya Miles. Of all the abolitionist praise collected and printed as testimonials in the first full-length account of Harriet Tubman’s life, Frederick Douglass’s words are the most perceptive.
'All That She Carried' writer Tiya Miles, a U of Minnesota grad, investigates Harriet Tubman in 'Night Flyer'
Harriet Tubman, the subject of scholarly works, graphic novels and Hollywood movies, is as well known to grade-school students as she is to viewers of public TV documentaries. In the coming years, as she replaces Andrew Jackson on the $20 bill soon, her image will be carried in millions of American wallets. What more is there to say about such a familiar historical figure? Plenty, it turns out.
National Book Award winner humanizes Harriet Tubman in ‘Night Flyer’
National Book Award winner Tiya Miles has delivered an innovative vision of Harriet Tubman’s life in her groundbreaking biography “Night Flyer: Harriet Tubman and the Faith Dreams of a Free People.” Pushing past the mythology of Tubman as the “hyperracial oddity” that previous biographers have portrayed, Miles takes painstaking care to present Tubman as a God-fearing freedom fighter in all her life stages.
Shadow Drafting | Tiya Miles
“To the extent that national progress in the arts and sciences can be attributed to university breakthroughs of the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries, the nation as a whole gained from universities’ exploitation of Black and Indigenous people,” writes Tiya Miles in her review of Rachel Swarns’s The 272: The Families Who Were Enslaved and Sold to Build the American Catholic Church, from our May 23, 2024, issue.
Tiya Miles: Rip or Repair? How To Respond to Harvard’s Year of Crisis.
A couple of years ago, I participated in a Zoom event held by Harriett’s Bookshop, a store in Philadelphia owned by Black women, which included a segment called “Rip or Repair.” My co-panelists and I were asked to respond with one of these choices in rapid-fire reaction to a prompt. When the United States Constitution was listed, the panel split: half for ‘rip,’ half for ‘repair.’ I voted to save the founding document upon which our modern freedoms depend.
Photographs by Jennifer Emerling: American Beauty - The Atlantic Original
By the time Jennifer Emerling was 12, she had been to 22 national parks. In an interview with her local newspaper that year, the California middle schooler said that in addition to collecting shirts and stuffed animals from the parks, “I take lots of pictures.” Asked what she would do when she’d exhausted the list of parks to visit, Emerling answered, “Go see them again.” Emerling, now a professional photographer, never stopped taking pictures of national parks.
How Bondage Built the Church
How Bondage Built the Church Published May 12, 2024 Reviewed: The 272: The Families Who Were Enslaved and Sold to Build the American Catholic Church by Rachel L. Swarns Random House, 326 pp., $28.00 When the Florida State Board of Education approved new standards for the middle school curriculum last July, there was an uproar.
How Bondage Built the Church | Tiya Miles
When the Florida State Board of Education approved new standards for the middle school curriculum last July, there was an uproar. The standards advised teachers to tell their students that enslaved people had acquired skills that “could be applied for their personal benefit,” suggesting an upside to dehumanization and forced servitude.
The Prophets: Octavia Butler
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The Prophets: Octavia Butler
Welcome back to The Prophets, our Saturday series about fascinating people from the past who foresaw our current moment. Last week, Rob Henderson paid tribute to Eric Hoffer, the blue-collar philosopher who explained how mass movements form, and warned about a society ruled by elites. Today, Tiya Miles writes about science fiction writer Octavia Butler, who predicted the political, technological, and environmental forces that would roil the twenty-first century.
Books to Fuel Your PCT Appetite
Howdy folks! This is my first post, so by way of a super brief introduction: I’m Katherine, I like to read. Before I start the trail in a few weeks, I wanted to share some of my favorite books that are either about the PCT itself or the spirit of the trail. I picked up most of these copies at my local independent bookstore, and I encourage you to do the same, but no judgment here if shopping local isn’t always an option (I also use Kindle and Audible, along with Libby and Libro.fm).
NIGHT FLYER | Kirkus Reviews
A blissfully vicarious, heartfelt glimpse into the life of a Manhattan burlesque dancer. A former New York City dancer reflects on her zesty heyday in the 1970s. Discovered on a Manhattan street in 2020 and introduced on Stanton’s Humans of New York Instagram page, Johnson, then 76, shares her dynamic history as a “fiercely independent” Black burlesque dancer who used the stage name Tanqueray and became a celebrated fixture in midtown adult theaters.
How to Parent in a World Under Siege? Original
The World of Birds The Evolution of Birds How to Start Birding The Joys of Sketching Birds Bird Song Quiz The World of Birds The Evolution of Birds How to Start Birding The Joys of Sketching Birds Bird Song Quiz In her elegant essay collection, "Lessons for Survival," Emily Raboteau confronts climate collapse, societal breakdown and the Covid pandemic while trying to raise children in a responsible way.
9 Books We Recommend Reading for Black History Month
There are so many wonderful biographies and histories that explore the Black experience in America, but these 9 recent books are particular standouts. Heirlooms embody powerful familial stories, and Miles meticulously takes us through one such story of an inheritance that reveals as much about a maternal ancestry as it does about the history of the United States. In 1852, an enslaved woman gave a sack to her 9-year-old daughter before the girl was sold and the pair were separated forever.
The Women's Prize for Non-Fiction
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Canadian writer Naomi Klein longlisted for $50K U.K. Women's Prize for Non-Fiction
Canadian writer Naomi Klein is on the longlist of the 2024 Women's Prize for Non-Fiction for her book Doppelganger. The £30,000 ($50,915.75 Cdn) prize awards "excpetional narrative non-fiction by women." In Doppelganger, Klein explores the concept of Mirror World.
Canadian writer Naomi Klein longlisted for $50K U.K. Women's Prize for Non-Fiction
Canadian writer Naomi Klein is on the longlist of the 2024 Women's Prize for Non-Fiction for her book Doppelganger. The £30,000 ($50,915.75 Cdn) prize awards "excpetional narrative non-fiction by women." In Doppelganger, Klein explores the concept of Mirror World.
7 Inspiring Books About Women in Sports Who Defied Expectations
I was a reader in a family of runners. With pre-teen grumbles, I reluctantly participated in summer track leagues, always bringing up the rear, always slowing things down, until one day under the blazing Tennessee sun I got my legs moving and earned my first ribbon. My dad puffed me up saying, “You were so fast out there, you could have been a Tigerbelle.” In my family, the Tigerbelles were legends. Being compared to the elite team made me feel like a winner, even with my 3rd-place yellow ribbon.
DU Faculty Recommends Books for Black History Month
Black History Month is an opportunity to expand your reading horizons with a few great books by Black authors. We asked Katherine Crowe, associate professor and curator of Special Collections and Archives in University Libraries, and Maik Nwosu, professor and chair in the Department of English and Literary Arts for some of their favorites.
Octavia Butler’s Guide to Surviving the Apocalypse
S omehow she knew this time would come. The smoke-choked air from fire gone wild, the cresting rivers and rising seas, the sweltering heat and receding lakes, the melting away of civil society and political stability, the light-year leaps in artificial intelligence—Octavia Butler foresaw them all. Butler was not a climate scientist, a political pundit, or a Silicon Valley technologist.
Octavia Butler’s Guide to Surviving the Apocalypse
10 New January 2024 Book Club Picks, From GMA Book Club To Amor en Páginas Welcome to a new year of more reading! If you’re curious to know what a bunch of great book clubs have selected this month or are looking to join a …
3 Must-Read Books to Kick Off the New Year
There is no better way to start a new year than with books that get you thinking about and relating to the world around you in a deeper way. How did the outdoors shape some of America's most accomplished female leaders? As the climate changes, can we plan for a more resilient future while avoiding the mistakes of the past? What can the Everglades teach us about the importance of cultivating balance and equilibrium with the natural world? These three books of nonfiction offer up the possible answers.
The Week In Recommendations 11.1.23
This is the free edition of Rich Text, a newsletter about cultural obsessions from your Internet BFFs Emma and Claire. If you like what you see and hear, consider becoming a paid subscriber. Our latest podcast was about Britney Spears memoir, “The Woman In Me”! Rich Text is a completely reader-supported project — no ads or sponsors! While Claire is out on maternity leave, we’ll be featuring guest recommendations from some of the coolest tastemakers we know.
How America’s Natural Beauty Called Generations of Women to Action
Mamie Garvin Fields, a Black girl who grew up a generation later than Alcott and Schoolcraft, split her time between the refined city of Charleston and rural South Carolina cotton fields. After a community-oriented career as a teacher and Black women’s club organizer, Fields published her personal account of a Southern upbringing, Lemon Swamp and Other Places: A Carolina Memoir, in collaboration with her granddaughters, Karen and Barbara Fields, in 1983.
Review: How the outdoors shaped the girls who grew up to be Harriet Tubman, Louisa May Alcott and others
“Wild Girls: How the Outdoors Shaped the Women Who Challenged a Nation” by Tiya Miles. Photo: W.W. Norton In the introduction to her new book, “Wild Girls,” Harvard University Professor and 2011 MacArthur Fellowship recipient Tiya Miles tells a moving story about growing up near the Ohio River and a winter so cold that the river was blanketed in a sheet of ice 12 inches thick.
W.W. Norton Launches Norton Shorts Series
To mark its centenary year, W. W. Norton will launch Norton Shorts, a new series of short nonfiction books authored by scholars and intended for the general public. Norton Short titles will each clock in at less than 200 pages, and will span a wide range of scholarly topics. “Norton Shorts emerged from conversations between Norton’s trade and college departments," said Alane Salierno Mason, v-p and executive editor at Norton and a key editor on the series.
Harriet Tubman, Outdoorswoman
When I was a child, my father took me to the river—the mighty Ohio—so I could walk on water. It was January 1977, the second-coldest winter on record in Cincinnati. Twenty-eight days below zero led to a river freeze 12 inches thick. The river became a bridge between regions we have named Ohio and Kentucky, the North and the South. The Ohio froze more commonly in the 19th century than in the 20th, and the last time was more than 40 years ago. Given climate change, it is unlikely to freeze ever again.
The Roundup Top Ten for June 23, 2023
; 6/23/2023 Roundup Juneteenth has Gone National—We Must Preserve its Local Meanings by Tiya Miles Juneteenth celebrations have long been couched in local Black communities' preserved rituals that express particular ideas about heritage and the meaning of freedom. While a national commemoration of emancipation is welcome, history will be lost if local observances are swamped by a national holiday.
The Roundup Top Ten for June 23, 2023
; 6/23/2023 Roundup Juneteenth has Gone National—We Must Preserve its Local Meanings by Tiya Miles Juneteenth celebrations have long been couched in local Black communities' preserved rituals that express particular ideas about heritage and the meaning of freedom. While a national commemoration of emancipation is welcome, history will be lost if local observances are swamped by a national holiday.
As Juneteenth Goes National, We Must Preserve the Local (Published 2023)
It's been two years since Juneteenth became a federal holiday, one we can celebrate together as a nation. The signing of the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act into law in 2021 was an expression of real progress in the collective understanding of Black struggle that reinforced our national ideals of liberty and dignity. But I confess my ambivalence. I am worried about what official national recognition might do to what has always been a community-based holiday.
The Great American Poet Who Was Named After a Slave Ship
T he small, sickly African girl who arrived in Boston on a seafaring vessel in 1761 had already been stripped of her family and her home. She missed her father, who suffered after having his young child “snatched,” she would later lament in writing. She longed for her mother, whose morning libations to the sun had imprinted on her an enduring memory. She was naked beneath her only physical covering, a “dirty carpet.” She owned nothing, not even herself.
New Phillis Wheatley Biography Reclaims Her Role as an Antislavery Thinker
SOURCE: The Atlantic 4/22/2023 Historians in the News tags: slavery, biography, Revolutionary War, Phillis Wheatley by Tiya Miles Tiya Miles is the Michael Garvey Professor of History and Radcliffe Alumnae Professor at Harvard University. Her most recent book is All That She Carried, the Journey of Ashley’s Sack, a Black Family Keepsake. The small, sickly african girl who arrived in Boston on a seafaring vessel in 1761 had already been stripped of her family and her home.
New Phillis Wheatley Biography Reclaims Her Role as an Antislavery Thinker
SOURCE: The Atlantic 4/22/2023 Historians in the News tags: slavery, biography, Revolutionary War, Phillis Wheatley by Tiya Miles Tiya Miles is the Michael Garvey Professor of History and Radcliffe Alumnae Professor at Harvard University. Her most recent book is All That She Carried, the Journey of Ashley’s Sack, a Black Family Keepsake. The small, sickly african girl who arrived in Boston on a seafaring vessel in 1761 had already been stripped of her family and her home.
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