Behind the Scenes

by Elizabeth Keckley

Behind the Scenes offers an intimate look at a remarkable life during a pivotal era in American history.
This compelling memoir step-by-step traces Elizabeth Keckley’s journey from enslaved childhood in Virginia to becoming a trusted confidante in the White House. Through candid, firsthand storytelling, the author shares personal trials, moral questions, and moments of resilience that illuminate a broader history of slavery, family, and public life in the mid-19th century.


With clear, steady narration, the book blends personal memory with historical moments, including reflections on the Civil War era, the presidency, and the private costs of public events. The author writes with candor about relationships, loyalty, and the responsibilities that come with bearing witness to some of the nation’s most difficult times.



Gain insight into life before and after emancipation from a voice that lived through it all.
Explore the author’s perspective on power, privacy, and the moral complexities of leadership during wartime.
See how personal courage shapes public history, including intimate moments at the nation’s center in Washington, D.C.
Understand the challenges of trust, fame, and the intersection of private life with national events.

Ideal for readers of memoirs, social history, and Civil War-era studies, this book offers a human window into a transformative period of American life.


Audiences seeking a humane, personal account of resilience, identity, and the realities behind historical headlines will find this edition engaging and thought-provoking.

Kindle Edition

Published August 24, 2018

About the author

Elizabeth Hobbs Keckley (February 1818 –May 1907) was a former slave turned successful seamstress who is most notably known as being Mary Todd Lincoln's personal modiste and confidante, and the author of her autobiography, Behind the Scenes Or, Thirty Years a Slave and Four Years in the White House. Mrs. Keckley utilized her intelligence, keen business acumen, and sewing and design skills to arrange and ultimately buy her freedom (and that of her son George as well), and later enjoyed regular business with the wives of the government elite as her base clientele.

After several years in St. Louis, she moved to Washington, D.C. in the spring of 1860, where she had the country's most elite women of the time requesting her services. Through shrewd networking and hard work, she ended up making gowns and dresses for more notable wives such as Mrs. Varina Davis, wife of Jefferson Davis, and Mrs. Mary Anne Randolph Custis Lee, wife of Robert E. Lee. Of all her clients, she had the closest and most long-standing relationship with Mary Todd Lincoln, devoting many of her days during Abraham Lincoln's administration to being available to her and the First Family in a myriad of ways.

Reviews

[Debbiebandy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Everyone, especially women, should read this first-person narrative of Lizzie Keckly, who was a slave for 30 years and dressmaker for Mary Todd Lincoln for 4. She was an intimate of the Lincoln family. Fascinating insights.