Keckley, Elizabeth (Hobbs)

(c. 1824–1907) dressmaker; born in Dinwiddie, Va. She purchased her freedom from slavery in 1855. By 1860 she was a Washington, D.C., dressmaker; she attracted the notice of Mary Todd Lincoln, to whom she became a companion and confidante. Keckley lost her clientele after publishing details of the Lincolns' private lives in Behind the Scenes (1868) and she spent her last forty years in obscurity.

References in periodicals archive

Keckley, Elizabeth. Behind the Scenes: Or, Thirty Years a Slave and Four Years in the White House.

Archive survival guide: Practical and theoretical approaches for the next century of women's studies research. (Conversations)

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