Behind the Scenes, Or, Thirty Years a Slave and Four Years in the White House. by: Elizabeth Keckley (Autobiography Former...
- ISBN-10
- 1974470148
- ISBN-13
- 9781974470143
- Pages
- 100
- Language
- English
- Published
- 2017-08-11
- Publisher
- Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
- Author
- Elizabeth Keckley
Description
Elizabeth Hobbs Keckley (sometimes spelled Keckly; February 1818 - May 1907) was a former slave who became a successful seamstress, civil activist, and author in Washington, DC. She was best known as the personal modiste and confidante of Mary Todd Lincoln, the First Lady. Keckley had moved to Washington in 1860 after buying her freedom and that of her son in St. Louis. She created an independent business in the capital based on clients who were the wives of the government elite. Among them were Varina Davis, wife of Jefferson Davis; and Mary Anna Custis Lee, wife of Robert E. Lee. After the American Civil War, Keckley wrote and published an autobiography, Behind the Scenes: Or, Thirty Years a Slave and Four Years in the White House (1868). It was 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, educated middle-class that was visible among the leadership of the black community. Keckley's relationship with Mary Todd Lincoln, the President's wife, was notable for its personal quality and intimacy, as well as its endurance over time.Elizabeth Keckley was born a slave in February 1818, in Dinwiddie County Court House, Dinwiddie, Virginia, just south of Petersburg. Her mother Agnes was a house slave owned by Armistead and Mary Burwell. "Aggy" was a "house slave" as she had learned to read and write, although this was illegal for slaves. Agnes did not tell Keckley her father's true identity until on her own deathbed, although it was "obvious" by Elizabeth's appearance that he was white.Elizabeth's biological father, revealed to her late in life, was Agnes' master Armistead Burwell, a planter and colonel in the War of 1812.
Get the book
Similar books
-
Behind the Scenes: Or, Thirty Years a Slave and Four Years in the White House
By Elizabeth KeckleyOr, Thirty Years a Slave and Four Years in the White House Elizabeth Keckley. PREFACE. I have often been asked to write my life, as those who know me know that it has been an eventful one. At last I have acceded to the importunities of ...
-
Behind the Scenes: Thirty Years a Slave and Four Years in the White House: True Story of a Black Women...
By Elizabeth KeckleyElizabeth Hobbs Keckley (1818 – 1907) was a former slave who became a successful seamstress, civil activist, and author in Washington, DC. She was best known as the personal modiste and confidante of Mary Todd Lincoln, the First Lady.
-
Behind the Scenes, Or, Thirty Years a Slave and Four Years in the White House
By Elizabeth KeckleyPart slave narrative, part memoir, and part sentimental fiction Behind the Scenes depicts Elizabeth Keckley's years as a salve and subsequent four years in Abraham Lincoln's White House during the...
-
Behind the Scenes
By Elizabeth KeckleyThis enthralling, poignant book is an extraordinary piece of American history that will delight anyone interested in slave narratives, such as Frederick Douglass' ́Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass ́.
-
Behind the Scenes: Or, Thirty Years a Slave, and Four Years in the White House Behind the Scenes: Or, Thirty...
By Elizabeth KeckleyIt is considered both a slave narrative and, in the words of historian Williams Andrews, the first major text to represent the interests and aims of this nascent African American leadership class the postwar era.
-
Behind the Scenes: Thirty Years a Slave and Four Years in the White House
By Elizabeth KeckleyBehind the Scenes: Thirty Years a Slave and Four Years in the White House is an autobiographical narrative by Elizabeth Keckley. In it she tells the story of her life as a slave and her time as a seamstress for Mrs.
-
Mrs. Lincoln and Mrs. Keckly: The Remarkable Story of the Friendship Between a First Lady and a Former Slave
By Jennifer Fleischner... Elegant Extracts, or Useful and Entertaining Passages from the Best English Authors and Translations. He memorized William Cullen Bryant's poem “Thanatopsis," about accepting death amid life, and turned down the page for William 161.
-
Behind The Scenes: Thirty Years a Slave and Four Years in the White House: The Controversial Autobiography of Mrs Lincoln's...
By Elizabeth KeckleyYet this book has survived all odds and has now become an important document on Anti-Slavery and the Lincolns. A must read for anyone who is interested in American History!
-
BEHIND THE SCENES – 30 Years a Slave and Four Years in the White House: The Controversial Autobiography of Mrs...
By Elizabeth KeckleyYet this book has survived all odds and has now become an important document on Anti-Slavery and the Lincolns. A must read for anyone who is interested in American History!
-
Behind the Scenes. by Elizabeth Keckley. Or, Thirty Years a Slave, and Four Years in the White House.
By Elizabeth KeckleyBehind the Scenes. by Elizabeth Keckley. Or, Thirty Years a Slave, and Four Years in the White House.