Elizabeth Keckley's "Behind the Scenes at the Lincoln White House

[David Lockmiller]

(03-05-2021 10:44 AM)RJNorton Wrote:  https://lasentinel.net/elizabeth-keckley...house.html

Born in Dinwiddie County, Virginia, in 1818, Keckley endured years of beatings and sexual assault as a slave. She bore her slave master’s child, George, and was then given away to her owner’s daughter, who moved her to St. Louis.

Keckley learned the art of dressmaking and, in 1852, married James Keckley, whom she believed was free.

Before her marriage, she negotiated a $1,200 price to buy her freedom but discovered she couldn’t raise the money for herself, her son, and her husband.

However, customers to her small seamstress shop loaned Keckley the money to purchase freedom for her and her son, and in 1860, she moved to Washington, D.C.

“She left Washington in 1892 to teach domestic skills at Wilberforce University, but ill health forced her to return and spend her final years in the Home for Destitute Women and Children, which she had helped to establish,” historians wrote.

Elizabeth Keckley died in 1907 after suffering a stroke.