Richard asked Tiya Miles:

What a terrific piece of scholarship and writing Ties that Bind is! You mentioned having some Native American heritage. Would you share what it is? Did that motivate you to write this, The Plantation on Diamond Hill, and Cherokee Rose?

Tiya Miles Thank you! I write about my grandmother telling me and my cousins that she had Native American heritage in her family, but I note that these stories are common in Black families and not always (or even usually) accurate. In my essay "Uncle Tom Was an Indian" published in the book Confounding the Color Line (edited by the historian James Brooks), I explore the psychological and historical dynamics of these kinds of claims of Indigenous ancestry among some African Americans. It's complicated, as the saying goes! Even though as a scholar I have reason to question my grandmother's belief -- yes -- her story did inspire me to study Black and Native connections in graduate school and to eventually write Ties That Bind, The House on Diamond Hill, and The Cherokee Rose.

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