Ruth died in January 1942 of tuberculosis. Her daughter, Dorothy Helen, was also known for her fashion sense and authored several "Smart Set" columns. Auslander writes that Ruth "host bridge and cocktail parties and elegant couture". By 1928, she was well known in Philadelphia's African-American high society, gaining regular mention in the "Smart Set" and "High Society" pages of The Philadelphia Tribune, the leading African-American newspaper. Newspaper reports and census records suggest that throughout her life, Ruth worked in affluent households in Philadelphia. In 1921, when Ashley's Sack was embroidered, Ruth would probably have been a single mother to a young daughter. She had a daughter, Dorothy Helen, born in Philadelphia in 1919. However, Ruth and her husband are never listed as having lived together. Ruth made her way to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and married Arthur Middleton, who was born around 1899 and also from South Carolina. Her parents, Austin and Rosa Jones, were servants at the University of South Carolina. He posits Ruth Middleton was born Ruth Jones in Columbia, South Carolina, around 1903. Īuslander's archival work retraces the life of Ruth. After his death, evidence suggests Ashley was sold away from her mother in order to raise money for his heirs. The historical chains of remaining evidence suggest that Ashley and her mother Rose were owned by a wealthy Charleston merchant and planter, Robert Martin (c. In the research article he published in 2016, Auslander uses census reports, wills, newspaper announcements of court decrees, and inventory records to reconstruct their history. It was viewed by thousands of museum visitors, including Central Washington University sociocultural anthropologist and museum-studies professor Mark Auslander, who has since traced the history of the sack to identify Ashley, her mother Rose, and the author of the needlepoint, Ruth. During this period, the identities of Rose, Ashley, and Ruth were unknown. On display from 2009 to 2013 at Middleton Place, the emotionally-charged artifact evoked human suffering and endurance. Ashley may have been sold away after his death. Robert Martin House, Charleston, South Carolina Martin was a 19th-century slaveowner who owned Ashley and Rose. Ashley's Sack is a portal to understanding more about our shared history." Todd stated: "The sack allows us to relate to the enslaved people and feel the same pain today - if you have lost a child or been separated from a parent - that Rose and Ashley felt. According to Tracey Todd, vice president of the Middleton Place Foundation, the sack is a rare material artifact from a period in United States history when human slavery was legal. While still owned by Middleton Place, the sack is on long-term loan to the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington D.C. Īshley's Sack was given to Middleton Place, in Dorchester County, South Carolina, one of the nation's preeminent slavery-era plantation sites. The gift was likely passed down to Ashley's granddaughter, Ruth (Jones) Middleton, who embroidered their story on to the sack in 1921. Rose filled the sack with a dress, braid of her hair, pecans, and "my love always".
The sack is on display at the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington D.C. Ashley's Sack is a mid-1800s cloth sack featuring an embroidered text that recounts the slave sale of a nine-year-old girl named Ashley and the parting gift of the sack by her mother, Rose.
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