Elizabeth Keckley
Author
Language
English
Formats
Description
Behind the Scenes is the life story of Elizabeth Keckley, a shrewd entrepreneur who, while enslaved, raised enough money to purchase freedom for herself and her son. Keckley moved to Washington, D.C., where she worked as a seamstress and dressmaker for the wives of influential politicians. She eventually became a close confidante of Mary Todd Lincoln. Several years after President Lincoln's assassination, when Mrs. Lincoln's financial situation had...
Author
Language
English
Description
Born a slave in Virginia, Elizabeth Keckley (c. 1824-1907) went on to become a talented dressmaker and designer, with some twenty employees of her own. Catering to the wives, daughters, and sisters of Washington's political elite, she included among her clientele Mary Todd Lincoln, who became her close friend and confidante. Keckley's behind-the-scenes view of wartime Washington not only provides fascinating glimpses of nineteenth-century America,...
Author
Language
English
Description
In these classic memoirs, three indomitable women share their stories of surviving slavery and fighting for the freedom of others.
Behind the Scenes: Born into slavery, Elizabeth Keckley used her talents as a seamstress to buy her freedom and eventually became Mary Todd Lincoln's dressmaker. Keckley and the first lady formed a close friendship as they endured tragedies together, including the deaths of their sons and the assassination of President...
4) Behind The Scenes In The Lincoln White House: Thirty Years a Slave and Four Years in the White House
Author
Language
English
Description
An autobiographical narrative, Behind the Scenes in the Lincoln White House traces Elizabeth Keckley's life from her enslavement in Virginia and North Carolina to her time as seamstress to Mary Todd Lincoln in the White House during Abraham Lincoln's administration. It was quite controversial at the time of its release-an uncompromising work that transgressed Victorian boundaries between public and private life, and lines of race, gender, and society....
Author
Publisher
Madison & Adams Press
Pub. Date
2019.
Language
English
Description
""Behind the Scenes" is both a slave narrative and a portrait of the First Family, especially Mary Todd Lincoln, and is considered controversial for breaking privacy about them. It was also her claim as a businesswoman to be part of the new mixed-race, middle-class that was visible among the leadership of the black community. Elizabeth Hobbs Keckley (1818 - 1907) was a former slave who became a successful seamstress, civil activist, and author in...