Books with author Elizabeth M. Buckley

Born a slave in Virginia, Elizabeth Keckley (c. 1824–1907) went on to become a talented dressmaker and designer, with some twenty employees of her own. Catering to the wives, daughters, and sisters of Washington's political elite, she included among her clientele Mary Todd Lincoln, who became her close friend and confidante.Keckley's behind-the-scenes view of wartime Washington not only provides fascinating glimpses of nineteenth-century America, but also offers candid observations on interracial relationships and the free black middle class. Here also are absorbing details of life in the Lincoln White House, as well as an insider's perspective on the men who made Civil War politics and the women who influenced them. A touching and revelatory work, filled with incisive social commentary, this inspiring narrative by an admirable woman will be an important addition to the libraries of anyone interested in African-American and Civil War history.

"Behind the Scenes" (1868) is both a slave narrative and a portrait of the First Family of America, especially of Mary Todd Lincoln, wife of Abraham Lincoln. After the assassination of President Lincoln, Elizabeth Keckley the former slave turned confidant and dress maker of Mrs. Lincoln took it upon herself to provide financial support to her by writing this slave narrative. But in spite of Keckley's good intentions the publication of her life story spelled doom for her own career and her friendship with the Lincolns to an extent that all efforts were made to suppress and falsify it. Yet 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!Elizabeth Keckley (1818-1907) was a former slave who became a successful dressmaker, civil rights activist, and author in Washington, DC. Her relationship with Mary T. Lincoln was notable for its personal quality and intimacy. Besides, Keckley was also deeply committed to programs of racial improvement and protection. She helped in founding the Home for Destitute Women and Children and taught at Wilberforce University in Ohio.

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.

An autobiographical narrative, BEHIND THE SCENES traces Elizabeth Keckley's life from her enslavement in Virginia and North Carolina to her time as seamstress to Mary Todd Lincoln in the White House during Abraham Lincoln's administration. It was quite controversial at the time of its release--an uncompromising work that transgressed Victorian boundaries between public and private life, and lines of race, gender, and society.

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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. Early life 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. The nature of the relationship between Agnes and Burwell is unknown. He permitted Agnes to marry George Pleasant Hobbs, a literate slave who lived and worked at a neighbor's home during Elizabeth's early childhood. When his owner decided to move far away, Hobbs was taken away from his family. Although they were never reunited, they corresponded for many years. As an adult, Elizabeth Keckley noted "the most precious mementoes of my existence are the faded old letters that he wrote, full of love, and always hoping that the future would bring brighter days."Keckley lived in the Burwell house with her mother and began official duties at age 4. As the Burwells had four children under age 10, Mary assigned Elizabeth to be the nursemaid for their infant Elizabeth Margaret. Forced into major responsibility as a young child, Keckley was subject to punishment for failing to care properly for the baby. One day she accidentally tipped the cradle over too far, and the infant rolled onto the floor. Mary Burwell beat her severely.At age 14, in 1832, Keckley was sent to live "on generous loan" with the eldest Burwell son Robert in Chesterfield County, Virginia, near Petersburg, when he married Margaret Anna Robertson. Unfortunately, the new bride expressed contempt for Elizabeth and made home life uncomfortable for her for the next four years. The family moved to Hillsborough, North Carolina, where Robert was a minister and teacher at the Burwell School. Keckley mentioned that Margaret seemed "desirous to wreak vengeance" upon her. Keckley wrote letters to her mother during her time there. Margaret enlisted neighbor William J. Bingham to help subdue the girl's "stubborn pride". When Keckley was 18, Bingham called her to his quarters and ordered her to undress so that he could beat her. Keckley refused, saying she was fully grown, and "you shall not whip me unless you prove the stronger. Nobody has a right to whip me but my own master, and nobody shall do so if I can prevent it."...

Born a slave in Virginia, Elizabeth Keckley (c. 1824–1907) went on to become a talented dressmaker and designer, with some twenty employees of her own. Catering to the wives, daughters, and sisters of Washington's political elite, she included among her clientele Mary Todd Lincoln, who became her close friend and confidante.Keckley's behind-the-scenes view of wartime Washington not only provides fascinating glimpses of nineteenth-century America, but also offers candid observations on interracial relationships and the free black middle class. Here also are absorbing details of life in the Lincoln White House, as well as an insider's perspective on the men who made Civil War politics and the women who influenced them. A touching and revelatory work, filled with incisive social commentary, this inspiring narrative by an admirable woman will be an important addition to the libraries of anyone interested in African-American and Civil War history.

Behind the Scenes is the life story of Elizabeth Keckley, a shrewd entrepreneur who, while enslaved, raised enough money to purchase freedom for herself and her son. Keckley moved to Washington, D.C., where she worked as a seamstress and dressmaker for the wives of influential politicians. She eventually became a close confidante of Mary Todd Lincoln. Several years after President Lincoln's assassination, when Mrs. Lincoln's financial situation had worsened, Keckley helped organize an auction of the former first lady's dresses, eliciting strong criticism from members of the Washington elite. Behind the Scenes is, therefore, both a slave narrative and Keckley's attempt to defend the motives behind the auction. However, the book's publication prompted an even greater public outcry, with the added racial subtext of white society's disdain for Keckley's audacity in publishing details of the Lincolns' private lives. Keckley's dressmaking business failed, the Lincoln family cut all ties with her, and she lived out her final days in a home for the indigent. Scholars have acknowledged the book's valuable account of slave life as well as its intimate view into the Lincoln White House. Biographers of the Lincolns have quoted extensively from Keckley's text. A DOCSOUTH BOOK. This collaboration between UNC Press and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Library brings classic works from the digital library of Documenting the American South back into print. DocSouth Books uses the latest digital technologies to make these works available in paperback and e-book formats. Each book contains a short summary and is otherwise unaltered from the original publication. DocSouth Books provide affordable and easily accessible editions to a new generation of scholars, students, and general readers.

Behind 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. Lincoln in the White House.The life and times of one remarkable woman encompasses Behind the Scenes. Keckley's first 30 years were spent as a slave, and the cruelties and injustices of her life are related clearly and succinctly. This enlightening memoir recounts how she was beaten and how she became a dressmaker to support her master and his family, how determined she was to purchase freedom for herself and her son, how her friends in St. Louis came to her aid, how she became Mary Todd Lincoln's dressmaker and close friend, and her perspectives and experiences from her inside view of Lincoln's White House. Keckley emerges as a calm and confident person who speaks of a very tumultuous period of American history.