Behind the Scenes: Or, Thirty Years a Slave, and Four Years in the White House. An Eyewitness Account of History.

“The life and times of one remarkable woman encompasses Behind the Scenes….Enlightening memoir. Recommended.” -Library Journal

Part slave narrative, part memoir, and part sentimental fiction, Behind the Scenes depicts Elizabeth Keckley's years as a slave and subsequent four years in Abraham Lincoln's White House during the Civil War. As public drama privately experienced, Keckley's work presents Jefferson Davis and his wife, Abraham Lincoln and Mary Todd Lincoln, and even Stephen Douglas and "Mrs. Senator Douglas" in the foreground, with the war, and slavery as the issue that precipitated it, in the background. Through the eyes of this black woman—an ex-slave, seamstress, and dressmaker—we see a wide range of historical figures and events of the antebellum South, the Washington of the Civil War years, and the final stages of the war.

Contents

Preface Chapter I. Where I was born Chapter II. Girlhood and its Sorrows Chapter III. How I gained my Freedom Chapter IV. In the Family of Senator Jefferson Davis Chapter V. My Introduction to Mrs. Lincoln Chapter VI. Willie Lincoln's Death-bed Chapter VII. Washington in 1862-3 Chapter VIII. Candid Opinions Chapter IX. Behind the Scenes Chapter X. The Second Inauguration Chapter XI. The Assassination of President Lincoln Chapter XII. Mrs. Lincoln leaves the White House Chapter XIII. The Origin of the Rivalry between Mr. Douglas and Mr. Lincoln Chapter XIV. Old Friends Chapter XV. The Secret History of Mrs. Lincoln's Wardrobe in New York Appendix --Letters from Mrs. Lincoln to Mrs. Keckley