Ties that Bind tells the story of Shoe Boots, a Cherokee warrior and farmer, and Doll, an African slave he acquired in the late 1790s. Over the next thirty years, Shoe Boots and Doll lived together as master and slave and also as lifelong partners. Through primary sources, Miles presents the complexities, ironies, and tensions among African Americans, Native Americans, and whites in the first half of the nineteenth century. Dr. Tiya Miles is the Michael Garvey Professor of History and Radcliffe Alumnae Professor at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study.

Dr. Natalie Inman, Associate Professor of History at Cumberland University, Lebanon, will discuss kinship networks in late eighteenth century Tennessee as part of this session.