![]() ![]() Lee.Īfter the American Civil War, Keckley wrote and published an autobiography, Behind the Scenes: Or, Thirty Years a Slave and Four Years in the White House, in 1868. Her clients were the wives of elite politicians, including Varina Davis, the wife of Jefferson Davis, and Mary Anna Custis Lee, the wife of Robert E. ![]() She established a dressmaking business that grew to include a staff of 20 seamstresses. In November 1855, she purchased her and her son's freedom in St. The money that she made helped to support the Garland family of seventeen family members. When she became a seamstress, the Garland family found that it was financially advantageous to have her make clothes for others. She received brutal treatment-including being raped and whipped to the point of bleeding welts-from Burwell's family members and a family friend. She became a nursemaid to an infant when she was four years old. She wrote an autobiography.īorn into slavery, she was owned by her father, Armistead Burwell, and later his daughter who was her half-sister, Anne Burwell Garland, wife of Hugh A. She was the personal dressmaker and confidante of Mary Todd Lincoln. ![]() Elizabeth Hobbs Keckley (February 1818 – May 1907) was an American seamstress, activist, and writer who lived in Washington, D.C. ![]()
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