Bøger af Elizabeth Keckley

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.