One day, about 170 years ago, a young, enslaved Black mother named Rose raced through her quarters gathering a survival kit for her nine-year-old daughter. The child, Ashley, was about to be sold, alone, to another plantation.
Into a cotton sack Rose tossed pecans, a tattered dress and a braid of her own hair. Then she sealed the bag with her love. Ashley told the story to her descendants and passed the bag down to a granddaughter. In the 1920s, the granddaughter embroidered the story — about the pecans, dress, lock and love — on one side of the sack. Nine simple lines relayed a tale of historic importance but also humanity. Eventually the sack was lost to time until it was discovered at a flea market in 2007 by a shopper. Through a series of twist and turns, by 2016 the bag was on display in the lower gallery of the National Museum of African American History and Culture. The rough cotton sack captivated Atlanta artist Jerushia Graham.
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