Behind the Scenes

Description

Behind the scenes, or, Thirty years a slave and four years in the White House in its full title is the life story of the author herself.

Elizabeth Hobbs Keckley was a slave who became a prosperous seamstress, civil activist, and author in Washington, DC. She was better known as the special dressmaker and friend of Mary Todd Lincoln, the First Lady. Elizabeth resided in Washington after getting back her freedom and that of her son in St. Louis. She established an independent company in the capital from clients who were the wives of the government privileged. Some of them were Varina Davis, wife of Jefferson Davis, and Mary Anna Custis Lee, wife of Robert E. Lee.

After the Civil War in America, Elizabeth wrote her autobiography. Her book was both a slave account and an image of the First Family, particularly Mary Todd Lincoln, and is regarded intriguing for meddling with their private life. It was also her stand as a business owner to be a parcel of the new mixed-race, knowledgeable middle-class that was noticeable in the headship of the black society.

Elizabeth’s friendship with Mary Todd Lincoln, the President’s wife, was remarkable for its personal trait and closeness, and with its tenacity for such time.

Elizabeth Keckley was born a slave in February 1818, in Dinwiddie County Court House, Dinwiddie, Virginia, the south of Petersburg. Her mother Agnes was a house keeper held by Armistead and Mary Burwell. Aggy was a house servant as she had studied on how to read and write, but this was forbidden for servants. Agnes had not told Elizabeth about who her father was until Agnes died, though it was discernible by Elizabeth’s physicality that he was white. Later in her life, Elizabeth’s real father was made known, he was her mother’s master Armistead Burwell, a planter and colonel in the War of 1812.
[amz_corss_sell asin=”1776723880″]