Elizabeth Keckley
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Elizabeth Keckley was a former slave who became a seamstress for Mary Todd Lincoln, and subsequently the author of a controversial account of her life with the First Lady.
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[edit] Early life
Born in Virginia circa 1818/1819, in Dinwiddie County, Virginia, her mother Agnes and her step father George Hobbs were slaves. George had a different master than Agnes and lived about 100 miles away from his family. George was only allowed to visit his family at Easter and Christmas. Lizzie (as she was called) never saw her father again after the age of 7 or 8, as George's master moved away and took George with him. Agnes was a seamstress on the plantation and taught Lizzie this skill as a young girl. This sewing skill would be Lizzie's ticket to freedom and eventually take her to the White House.
Lizzie was given to the Colonel Armistead Burwell's son, the Reverend Robert Burwell, as a wedding gift when she was a teenager. In 1835 she moved with the Burwells to Hillsborough, North Carolina, where the Burwells established the Burwell School, an early female educational academy. While in Hillsborough, Lizzie had one child, who was named George after her father. George II was the product of a forced and unwanted relationship with a neighbor of the Burwell's.
[edit] Marriage and Release
Later, Lizzie was moved to St. Louis, where she married James Keckley in 1852 but found out early on he was not a free slave and he was an alcoholic. She was promised by her master that she could buy her freedom upon his death but when he died she did not have the money. A few of her patrons loaned Lizzie the $1200.00 needed to buy her freedom.
[edit] Career
Lizzie moved to Baltimore and started a school for young girls teaching them sewing and etiquette. She became the personal seamstress for Mary Todd Lincoln after working on Mary's Inaugural Ball gown. Lizzie became Mary Lincoln's confidante. She was one of the few people who could tolerate Mrs. Lincoln's mood swings and harsh criticisms. Lizzie eventually wrote a book, Behind the Scenes (1868) describing her times at the Lincoln White House. The book became very controversial and Mary Lincoln's son Robert had the book removed from publication.
Lizzie went on to become the founder and president of the first Black Contraband Relief Association. She represented Wilberforce College at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, Illinois.
[edit] References
- Elizabeth Hobbes Keckly (Keckley), from the Burwell School Historic Site
- Elizabeth Keckley biography, from Woman in History at the Lakewood Public Library
