Böcker av Elizabeth Keckley

Behind the Scenes: or Thirty Years a Slave and Four Years in the White House was first published in 1868 and is considered one of the most candid and poignant slave narratives. Author Elizabeth Hobbs Keckley writes about her teenage years, working as a slave for the Rev. Robert Burwell in Hillsborough, NC. He is thought by many historians to have been Keckley s half-brother. The Burwells had twelve children and ran an academy for girls. She writes about mistreatment and violence visited upon her by Rev. and Mrs. Burwell, and the unwelcome sexual advances and eventual rape by one of the town s white citizens. After Keckley gave birth to a son, she and her baby were sent to live with Burwell s sister.Born into slavery, Elizabeth Hobbs Keckley endured untold hardships at the hands of her master and half-brother Robert Burwell in Hillsborough, North Carolina. She eventually purchased freedom for herself and that of her son in the 1850s and is now remembered as an entrepreneur, fashion designer, abolitionist, educator, writer, and community activist. Self-reliant and educated, Keckley used her dressmaking skills to set up a successful business in the pre-Civil War Washington D.C., where she became the modiste of choice for many of the most fashionable women in the nation s capital. Her talents and enterprising nature eventually led her to become seamstress to Mary Todd Lincoln and confidante to both Mary and Abraham Lincoln. After the assassination of President Lincoln, Keckley s friendship with Mary Todd Lincoln eventually shifted into one of caretaker, as the former first lady s financial troubles mounted and her mental health declined. In an effort to buoy their financial fortunes and to balance Lincoln s battered public image, Keckley wrote Behind the Scenes: or, Thirty Years a Slave and Four Years in the While House. It is considered both a slave narrative and, in the words of historian Williams Andrews, the first major text to represent the interests and aims of this nascent African American leadership class the postwar era.

Elizabeth Keckley reveals the hardships of slavery and the changing political climate in Washington amongst the country's most powerful couple, Abraham and Mary Lincoln. Keckley had unprecedented access, giving insight into their state during and after the Civil War. Elizabeth Keckley was born into slavery and experienced a traumatic upbringing riddled with physical and sexual violence. One attack resulted in the birth of her son, whom she named George. Elizabeth was a gifted seamstress who used her skills to save money to buy her and her son's freedom. She ventured North and started a career as a dressmaker to influential women in political circles. One of her most notable clients was Mary Todd Lincoln, with whom she developed a close friendship. Behind the Scenes is a harrowing story of one woman's unshakable drive. Despite her limiting circumstances, Elizabeth Keckley earned her freedom and became a successful entrepreneur. It's an inspiring tale that provides a personal account of one of the most volatile times in American history. With an eye-catching new cover, and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of Behind the Scenes is both modern and readable.

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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.

This fascinating autobiography describes one woman's life as a slave and subsequently her four years in Lincoln's White House during the Civil War.

Elizabeth Keckley's post-Civil War life story is part slave narrative, part gossip column, part Horatio Alger story. It blends autobiography with - is there a word to describe a biography that disparages its subject? Although Elizabeth Keckley lived longer as a slave than as modiste to First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln, most of her engrossing autobiography is devoted to her White House years. The opening three chapters establish her as a woman to be reckoned with: the "school of slavery," as she calls her bondage, taught her to be fiercely self-reliant, persevering, and defiant, though more than one slavemaster tried to beat her into submission. Having worked as a reputable seamstress for three years while also performing her full-time duties as a slavewoman, she finally manages to buy freedom for both herself and her son. After a brief, unhappy marriage, she begins her rapid social ascent from seamstress for the solid South's "best ladies" to Mary Todd Lincoln's best friend and confidante. Elizabeth Keckley's narrative is riveting as she recounts life in the White House during the Lincoln administration in meticulous detail. Behind the Scenes will engage equally the history buff, the gossip monger, and the lover of literature. - For great reviews of books for girls, check out Let's Hear It for the Girls: 375 Great Books for Readers 2-14. - From 500 Great Books by Women; review by Joycelyn Moody

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.

Presents 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.

Written in a conversational, first-person narrative, it is the personal testimony of a woman who went from being a slave, to being the friend and confidante to Mary Todd Lincoln during the Civil War, to finally become a proprietor with more than twenty employees of her own, only to spend her last days in a home for the destitute. Possible Sleeper!

This fascinating autobiography describes one woman's life as a slave and subsequently her four years as seamstress in Lincoln's White House during the Civil War, offering a unique view of historical figures and events.