For Women's History Month - Lesser-Known Stories
The League of Women Voters of New Castle County presents this series of weekly stories for womens' history month, March 2021. Second in the series, a remarkable story of a woman who started life as a slave, spent four years in the white house as a seamstress for Mary Todd Lincoln, and published her memoir in 1868... at a time when this was a startling thing for a Black woman to do.
From Slavery to the White House: The Extraordinary Life of Elizabeth Keckly
Read Lizzy Keckly's story here, in this article by Lisa Mann on the White House Historical Association page: whitehousehistory.org/from-slavery-to-the-white-house-the-extraordinary-life-of-elizabeth-keckly.
An excerpt to get you started...
In 1868, Elizabeth (Lizzy) Hobbs Keckly (also spelled Keckley) published her memoir Behind the Scenes or Thirty Years a Slave, and Four Years in the White House. This revealing narrative reflected on Elizabeth’s fascinating story, detailing her life experiences from slavery to her successful career as First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln’s dressmaker. At the time of its publication, the book was controversial. It soured her close relationship with Mrs. Lincoln and destroyed the reputation of both women. Although the American public was not prepared to read the story of a free Black woman assuming control of her own life narrative at the time of publication, her recollections have been used by many historians to reconstruct the Lincoln White House and better understand one of the nation’s most fascinating and misunderstood first ladies. Her story is integral to White House history and understanding the experiences of enslaved and free Black women.
Elizabeth (Lizzy) Hobbs Keckly circa 1861. Moorland-Spingarn Research Center, Howard University
About the White House Historical Association
The white house historical association is a private, nonprofit organization founded in 1961 by First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy with a mission to protect, preserve, and provide public access to the rich history of America’s Executive Mansion.
They are a membership organization, relying on public donors to operate.
