Writings
Editorials & opinion pieces, essays, reviews, and guest blog posts
Editorials & Opinion Pieces
"Rip or Repair? How To Respond to Harvard’s Year of Crisis.."
Tiya writes how we “must rediscover our common accord” to overcome the coordinated and divisive attacks on CRT and DEI to combat the more existential threats to our universities and free societies.
The Harvard Crimson. Published May 24, 2024.Tiya encourages recent graduates to look to Harriet Tubman for inspiration and guidance as they ‘enter this chaotic world’ and navigate the challenges of our time.
The Harvard Crimson. Published May 25, 2022."History is a Most Able Teacher."
The Dallas Morning News published a multi-part series on important issues for voters to consider as they choose a president this year. Tiya’s piece was the fourth installment of their “What’s at Stake” series, and it focused on American culture.
The Dallas Morning News. Published October 4, 2020."What should we do with plantations?."
Tiya writes of the whitewashed history lavish estates where Black people were enslaved, and suggests how these places might begin to redeem themselves.
The Boston Globe. Published August 8, 2020."The Black Gun Owner Next Door."
In The New York Times Opinion piece Tiya highlights the importance of guns in defending the freedom of fugitive and freed slaves and considers the significance of guns in current culture and asks, “I’m an African-American historian and, on most issues, decidedly liberal. Could I rethink my anti-gun stance?”
The New York Times. Published March 9, 2019."My Friend ‘Virginia from Virginia’."
Tiya explores what we can learn about life and ourselves when we’re open to unexpected friendships.
The New York Times. Published December 12, 2018.Opinion in The New York Times, Tiya Miles provides her perspective on race relations and the election victory of Senator Jon Tester in Montana.
The New York Times. Published November 8, 2018."Black Hair’s Blockbuster Moment."
Opinion in The New York Times Sunday Review on the cultural significance of black hair in its natural state and its resurgence as a symbol of political consciousness and visionary imagining.
The New York Times. Published February 23, 2018."Fighting Racism Is Not Just a War of Words."
Op-ed on the importance of creative protest in combating acts of racism.
The New York Times. Published October 21, 2017."The South Doesn’t Own Slavery."
Op-ed on the scope and history of slavery in the United States. Tiya Miles highlights the tendency in our national discourse to confine slavery to the American South.
The New York Times. Published September 11, 2017."Free the black slave mistress ghost."
An op-ed on ghost tourism in Savannah, GA.
Savannah Morning News/Savannah Now. Published April 1, 2017."Trump Plan To Cut NEH and NEA Diminishes Us All."
Tiya Miles warns of what Americans stand to lose if President Trump’s proposals to cut funding for the National Endowment for the Humanities and the National Endowment for the Arts are successful.
Huffington Post. Published February 2, 2017."Opinion: Black Americans must embrace true colors." CNN. Published December 2012.
"Opinion: Why focus on Gabby Douglas’ hair?." CNN. Published August 2012.
"Pain of ‘Trail of Tears’ shared by Blacks as well as Native Americans." CNN’s In America. Published February 2012.
"An Emergency Manager Would Put Belle Isle at Risk." Huffington Post. Published January 2012.
"Georgia’s historic sites need funds."
Editorial on the need to preserve Native American historic sites in Georgia.
The Atlanta Journal Constitution. Published July 2010.Essays
"How Harriet Tubman relied on nature to bring the enslaved to freedom."
Tubman’s relationship with entities of the natural world was central to her work on the Underground Railroad. This article is adapted from “Night Flyer,” published June 18, 2024 by Penguin Press.
The Washington Post. Published June 16, 2023.Scenes from our national parks — captured by Jennifer Emerling.
The Atlantic. Published May 21, 2024."How Octavia Butler Told the Future."
Tiya writes why we need Octavia Butler’s conception of “histofuturism” now more than ever.
The Atlantic. Published January 12, 2024."How America’s Natural Beauty Called Generations of Women to Action."
“Memory, for this young daughter of enslaved grandparents, is yoked to outdoor spaces with complex intergenerational meanings.” Read a published excerpt from Tiya’s book Wild Girls.
Literary Hub. Published September 21, 2023."‘Come Out and See the Stars’."
“Surely these memories pressed inside the souls of Black folk like bright leaves pressed into autumn soils, creating moist, fertile ground for self-knowledge, resistance, and resilience. Enslaved people had a critical awareness of their ecological contexts that we tend to overlook. In the stirrings of the natural world, they identified an essential, rare earth element: hope.”
The Atlantic. Published September 12, 2023."Juneteenth Is Different Out West."
Tiya considers the impact of recognizing Juneteenth, a historically community-based holiday, as a national holiday. She writes, “Juneteenth festivities have long represented tucked-away spaces, deeply local, somewhat surprising and fitted to the variances of Black life in America”; and reminds us of the risk of “commercialization that threatens to eclipse these local celebrations, in all their wondrous specificity.”
The New York Times. Published June 16, 2023."A National Tantrum at a National Park."
“You’re in such a gorgeous place. Why are you complaining about stupid stuff?” Tiya explores the spread of ugly behavior that has grown alongside Covid and found its way into some of our most beautiful places.
The Atlantic. Published December 21, 2022.Tiya’s latest piece, co-written with Michelle May-Curry, offers commentary on family heirlooms and photography for Juneteenth with an interactive photo gallery.
The New York Times. Published June 17, 2022."Fulfilling the Promise of America."
In honor of Women’s History Month, Tiya revisits the timeless message of 19th-century abolitionist Angelina Grimké: “The ground upon which you stand is holy ground; never—never surrender it.” First published in The Dallas Morning News in 2020, republished on
The First Person with Michael Judge. Published March 28, 2022."When Everyone Around You Is Talking About the End, Talk About Black History."
Tiya eloquently encourages us to explore the lessons found in Black history to find the strength and courage to persevere through the challenges and uncertainty we face today. “The capacity to recognize those moments of emergency, catastrophe and impending loss as moments of change and then to anticipate what might come next are part of the psychological and emotional tool kit that saved Black America.”
The New York Times. Published February 13, 2022."The Ohio River: Everything Has a History."
Tiya considers the history of the frozen Ohio River and the role it played as a bridge to freedom for enslaved people. She writes, “The river’s interesting natural history raises questions about the role of nature in social and political history. Could the state of this river have affected the national debate about slavery prior to the Civil War?”
American Historical Association Perspectives. Published January 27, 2022."Nantucket Doesn’t Belong to the Preppies."
In an article published in The Atlantic, Tiya describes the challenges of preserving some of the oldest enclaves of Black history in the United States from the continuous threat of erasure — first gentrification and now climate change. Tiya writes, “Picture Nantucket, and you probably imagine whales and hydrangeas, white people swimming in white-capped waves. But that’s only part of the story. Although the Black community of New Guinea has passed into history, its mark on the landscape remains, a reminder that Nantucket was once a place of working-class ingenuity and Black daring.” This article is part of “Inheritance,” a project about American history and Black life.
The Atlantic. Published Aug 30, 2021."Her daughter about to be sold away, an enslaved mother carefully packs her a sack."
‘It is rare that we get to peer inside one of the hastily prepared bundles that sold or escaping enslaved people grasped in times of sudden change. Each item Rose packed for so significant a parting was both essential and versatile. The tattered dress could protect a body from exposure and shield an enslaved girl’s inner dignity. This piece is excerpted from Tiya’s book All That She Carried: The Journey of Ashley’s Sack, A Black Family Keepsake and can be read in
The Harvard Gazette. Published June 22, 2021.‘Nevertheless, with steady hands we can thread the eye of this needle and ask what Ruth’s record can tell us about Black women, Black families, women crafters, and Black material, as well as social, worlds. By doing so, we refuse to give up on those many people of the past who did not—could not—leave behind troves of documents.’ This piece is excerpted from Tiya’s book All That She Carried: The Journey of Ashley’s Sack, A Black Family Keepsake and can be read online at
Jezebel. Published June 14, 2021."How the Survivors of Slavery Used Material Objects to Preserve Intergenerational Wisdom."
‘Having been treated as possessions and deprived of ownership of themselves, their families, crops they nurtured, and objects they made and maintained, African American survivors of slavery recognized the world of things. They lived each day in haunted awareness of the thin boundary line between human and non-human, a thinness daily exposed and abused by slave societies. Despite the prominence of a Cartesian duality in Western philosophy that proposed a clear split between spirit and matter, enslaved Blacks knew that people could be treated like things and things prized over people.’ This piece is excerpted from Tiya’s book All That She Carried: The Journey of Ashley’s Sack, A Black Family Keepsake and can be read online at
Literary Hub. Published June 10, 2021."To Find the History of African American Women, Look to Their Handiwork."
‘A granddaughter, mother, sewer, and storyteller imbued a piece of old cloth with all the drama and pathos of ancient tapestries depicting the deeds of queens and goddesses. She preserved the memory of her foremothers and also venerated these women, shaping their image for the next generations. Without Ruth, there would be no record. Without her record, there would be no history.’ This piece is excerpted from Tiya’s book All That She Carried: The Journey of Ashley’s Sack, A Black Family Keepsake and can be read in
The Atlantic. Published June 9, 2021."Packed Sacks and Pieced Quilts: Sampling Slavery’s Vast Materials."
Tiya’s article was published in Winterthur Portfolio’s new series
Enslavement and Its Legacies. Published Winter 2020."The radical hope of Black motherhood."
One family’s heirloom reveals a broader legacy: brilliant practicality in the face of terror.
The Boston Globe. Published May 7, 2021."Cease-fire terms during Pontiac’s War: British retreat and one Black boy."
Published in March, Tiya’s essay is excerpted from the anthology “Four Hundred Souls: A Community History of African America, 1619‒2019,” edited by Ibram X. Kendi and Keisha N. Blain.
The Harvard Gazette. Published March 15, 2021."Native Americans and the Underground Railroad."
Tiya wrote an article for the National Park Service Underground Railroad Network to Freedom Program on the role Native peoples played in assisting African American individuals, families, and larger parties in search of freer territories. It’s featured on the National Park Service website in conjunction with Native American Heritage Month.
National Park Service. Published December 16, 2020."Indigenous Slavery and the Thanksgiving Difference."
In her essay for the Southern Poverty Law Center, Tiya considers Thanksgiving traditions amid a pandemic and the opportunity to redefine how and why we come together. “We can choose to turn the page and begin a new chapter in which we see the many sides of our past — not to cast blame, but to recast civic relationships.”
Southern Poverty Law Center. Published November 25, 2020."Greeting Juneteenth with Remembrance, Resolve, and Hope."
Tiya contributed an essay on Juneteenth for the Harvard and the Legacy of Slavery website. Read or listen to Tiya’s reflections.
Harvard and the Legacy of Slavery. Published JUNE 18, 2020."Contributions to the 1619 Project."
The 1619 Project, led by The New York Times, is a call to acknowledge our collective history and understanding of the year 1619, the 400th anniversary of the beginning of American slavery, as the “true founding” of our nation; and serves to highlight the “consequences of slavery and the contributions of black Americans at the very center of the story we tell ourselves about who we are.” Read Tiya Miles’ contributions to The 1619 Project. (Each piece is located about midway down the page with gray background.)
- “Chained Migration: How Slavery Made Its Way West”
- “How Slavery Made Wall Street”
- “The Enslaved Pecan PIoneer”
"What Led this Historian to Write a Novel About Indians and Slavery?." History News Network. Published June 28, 2015.
"Questioning Black Religious Faith." Huffington Post. Published April 7, 2015.
"Black Women, Interracial Dating, and Marriage: What’s Love Got to Do With It?." Huffington Post. Published November 2013.
An essay on the New York Times’ “Room for Debate” feature that explored whether the Cherokee Nation’s expulsion of black Freedmen was an act of tribal sovereignty or racial discrimination.
The New York Times. Published September 2011.Feminist Personal Essays
"The Black Mother Within: Notes on Feminism and the Classroom." Black Women, Gender, and Families 2:2. Published fall 2008.
"Speckled Birds." Journal of Interdenominational Theological Center, Special Issue: Perspectives on Womanist Theology 22:2 :249-253. Published fall 1995.
Women and Language (Vol. 18, Issue 1):21-22.
George Mason University. Published spring 1995."Lessons from a Young Feminist Collective."
Listen Up: Voices of the Next Feminist Generation. ed., Barbara Findlen: 167-176.
Seattle: Seal Press. Published 1995. Republished as "On the Rag," Ms. magazine (May-June 1995).Co-authored with Keiko Morris, Testimony: Young African Americans on Self-Discovery and Black Identity, ed., Natasha Tarpley: 236-241.
Boston: Beacon Press. Published 1995."Obama and Big History." Michigan Quarterly Review Volume XLVIII, Issue 3. Published summer 2009.
Reviews
"How Bondage Built the Church."
Tiya writes “Rachel L. Swarns’s compassionate investigation, The 272: The Families Who Were Enslaved and Sold to Build the American Catholic Church, joins the intellectual resistance to historical amnesia.” An informed and inspiring review.
The New York Review. Published May 23, 2024."How to Parent in a World Under Siege?."
Tiya reviews “Lessons for Survival,” Emily Raboteau’s elegant collection of essays that confront climate collapse, societal breakdown and the challenges of trying to raise children in a responsible way during the Covid pandemic.
The New York Times. Published March 12, 2024."The Great American Poet Who Was Named After a Slave Ship." The Atlantic. Published April 22, 2023.
"Book Review: Christina Snyder, Great Crossings: Indians, Settlers and Slaves in the Age of Jackson, American Historical Review." Oxford University Press. Published June 2018.
"Review: National Museum of African American History and Culture." The Public Historian Vol. 39, No. 2. Published May 2017: 82-86.
"Haunted Houses Are About More Than Just Ghosts."
Tiya Miles reviewed Ghostland written by Colin Dickey for The New York Times Book Review.
The New York Times. Published October 27, 2016.Tiya reviews the play Cherokee written by Lisa D’Amour.
Medium. Published January 26, 2015.Guest Blogs
In a recent guest post on UNC Press Blog, Tiya shares some of the slave ghost stories marketed at tourist sites around the South and argues for reverence, rather than caricature, of historic sites of slavery.
UNC Press Blog. Published October 30, 2015."Baby Showers, Now and Then." Huffington Post. Published June 2014.
"Guest Post on Historians Against Slavery." Historians Against Slavery. Published January 2014.
"We Are Standing on Beautiful History." The UNC Press Blog. Published August 2010.