![]() Lincoln financially and partly to counter criticism of Mrs. Keckley published Behind the Scenes, or, Thirty Years a Slave, and Four Years in the White House in 1868, partly to help Mrs. After President Lincoln's assassination, Keckley made several attempts to raise money for the former first lady. Keckley's clients were the wives of influential politicians, and she eventually became the dresser and close confidante of Mary Todd Lincoln. ![]() ![]() In 1860, she left her husband and moved to Washington, D.C., where she set up a dressmaking shop. Sympathetic customers loaned Keckley the money to purchase her freedom and that of her son in 1855. Prior to her marriage, Keckley had negotiated with the Garlands to purchase her freedom and that of her son, but she could not raise the required $1,200, because of the strain of supporting her "dissipated" husband and the Garland household (p. She married James Keckley around 1852, discovering only afterward that he was not a free man. There she became a dressmaker and supported Garland's entire household for over two years. She was eventually given to her owner's daughter, Ann Garland, with whom she moved to St. ![]() Keckley experienced harsh treatment under slavery, including beatings as well as the sexual assault of a white man, by whom she had a son named George. 1818-1907) was born enslaved in Dinwiddie County, Virginia, to Agnes Hobbs and George Pleasant. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |