author
Elizabeth Keckley
1818–1907
Born into slavery, she used extraordinary skill with a needle to buy freedom for herself and her son, then became the dressmaker and trusted confidante of First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln. Her life story joins American fashion, politics, and Black history in a way that still feels vivid today.
1 Audiobook
Behind the Scenes; or, Thirty years a slave, and Four Years in the White House
by Elizabeth Keckley
About the author
Elizabeth Hobbs Keckley was an African American seamstress, writer, and activist born in Virginia in February 1818. After years of enslavement, she earned enough through dressmaking to purchase freedom for herself and her son, and eventually built a successful business in Washington, D.C., where her clients included many of the city’s political elite.
She is best known as the personal dressmaker and confidante of Mary Todd Lincoln during the Lincoln White House. Keckley also used her position and connections to help others, including through relief work for formerly enslaved people during the Civil War.
In 1868, she published the memoir Behind the Scenes; or, Thirty Years a Slave, and Four Years in the White House, an important firsthand account of slavery, freedom, and life close to the Lincolns. She died in Washington, D.C., in May 1907, and is remembered for her resilience, talent, and determination to shape her own life.