Tiya Miles – författare

Essays range from a close reading of the 1838 memoirs of a black and Native freewoman to an analysis of how Afro-Native intermarriage has impacted the identities and federal government classifications of certain New England Indian tribes. One contributor explores the aftermath of black slavery in the Choctaw and Chickasaw nations, highlighting issues of culture and citizenship. Another scrutinizes the controversy that followed the 1998 selection of a Miss Navajo Nation who had an African American father. A historian examines the status of Afro-Indians in colonial Mexico, and an ethnographer reflects on oral histories gathered from Afro-Choctaws. Crossing Waters, Crossing Worlds includes evocative readings of several of Toni Morrison’s novels, interpretations of plays by African American and First Nations playwrights, an original short story by Roberta J. Hill, and an interview with the Creek poet and musician Joy Harjo. The Native American scholar Robert Warrior develops a theoretical model for comparative work through an analysis of black and Native intellectual production. In his afterword, he reflects on the importance of the critical project advanced by this volume.

Contributors. Jennifer D. Brody, Tamara Buffalo, David A. Y. O. Chang, Robert Keith Collins, Roberta J. Hill, Sharon P. Holland, ku''ualoha ho’omnawanui, Deborah E. Kanter, Virginia Kennedy, Barbara Krauthamer, Tiffany M. McKinney, Melinda Micco, Tiya Miles, Celia E. Naylor, Eugene B. Redmond, Wendy S. Walters, Robert Warrior

The Cherokee Rose, written by Tiya Miles, award-winning historian and recipient of a recent MacArthur “genius grant”, examines a little-known aspect of America’s past—slaveholding by Southern Cherokees—and its legacy in the lives of three contemporary young women who are drawn to the Georgia plantation where scenes of extreme cruelty, and equally extraordinary compassion, are played out.

Tiya Miles has been selected for Ebony Magazine’s "Power 100" and The Grio’s "100 lists of African American leaders." Her non-fiction books, The House on Diamond Hill: A Cherokee Plantation Story and Ties That Bind: The Story of an Afro-Cherokee Family in Slavery and Freedom received numerous prestigious awards. She lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where she is a professor in American Culture, History, Afroamerican & African Studies, Native American Studies, and Women’s Studies at the University of Michigan.

“With the character arcs and the exploration of an often-overlooked area of history—the Native American ownership of African slaves—this is a solid choice for book clubs that savor meaty discussions.” —Library Journal

“…[a] wrenching yet enlightening saga. Readers will be taken with the way this novel blends past and present.” —Publishers Weekly

“An enchanting examination of bloodlines, legacy and the myriad braches of a diverse family tree.” —Kirkus Reviews

“With both modern-day and historical characters equally believable in their desires and life journeys, this novel tells a little-known story that is complex and captivating.” —Foreword Reviews

Winner of the Frederick Douglass Book Prize Winner of the American Book Award Winner of the Merle Curti Social History Award Winner of the James A. Rawley Prize Winner of the Zora Neale Hurston/Richard Wright Legacy Award (Nonfiction) Finalist for the John Hope Franklin Prize Finalist for the Harriet Tubman Prize Finalist for the Cundill History PrizeA New York Times Editor’s Choice selection “If many Americans imagine slavery essentially as a system in which black men toiled on cotton plantations, Miles upends that stereotype several times over.”—New York Times Book Review “[Miles] has compiled documentation that does for Detroit what the Works Progress Administration and the Federal Writers’ Project slave narratives did for other regions, primarily the South.”—Washington Post“[Tiya Miles] is among the best when it comes to blending artful storytelling with an unwavering sense of social justice.”—Martha S. Jones in The Chronicle of Higher Education“A necessary work of powerful, probing scholarship.”—Publisher Weekly (starred)“A book likely to stand at the head of further research into the problem of Native and African-American slavery in the north country.”—Kirkus ReviewsFrom the MacArthur genius grant winner, a beautifully written and revelatory look at the slave origins of a major northern American cityMost Americans believe that slavery was a creature of the South, and that Northern states and territories provided stops on the Underground Railroad for fugitive slaves on their way to Canada. In this paradigm-shifting book, celebrated historian Tiya Miles reveals that slavery was at the heart of the Midwest’s iconic city: Detroit.In this richly researched and eye-opening book, Miles has pieced together the experience of the unfree—both native and African American—in the frontier outpost of Detroit, a place wildly remote yet at the center of national and international conflict. Skillfully assembling fragments of a distant historical record, Miles introduces new historical figures and unearths struggles that remained hidden from view until now. The result is fascinating history, little explored and eloquently told, of the limits of freedom in early America, one that adds new layers of complexity to the story of a place that exerts a strong fascination in the media and among public intellectuals, artists, and activists.A book that opens the door on a completely hidden past, The Dawn of Detroit is a powerful and elegantly written history, one that completely changes our understanding of slavery’s American legacy.