Behind the Scenes : Or, Thirty Years a Slave, and Four Years in the White House

by Keckley, Elizabeth; Andrews, William L.

• ISBN13: 9780143039242
• ISBN10: 0143039245
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2005-07-26
• Publisher: Penguin Classics

Summary

This fascinating autobiography describes one woman's life as a slave and subsequently her four years in Lincoln's White House during the Civil War. Through the eyes of this black woman, a seamstress and dressmaker who was only a few years removed from being a 'slave for life', we see historical figures and events ranging from the Lincolns in their private chambers to the return to Richmond after the fall of the Confederate capital.

Author Biography

Elizabeth Hobbs Keckley (1818-û1907) was born a slave near Dinwiddie Court House, Virginia, and, after purchasing her freedom, became head of the Domestic Science Department at Wilberforce University in Ohio.
William L. Andrews is E. Maynard Adams Professor of English at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is the author of To Tell a Free Story and editor or coeditor of more than thirty books on African American literature.

Table of Contents

Note on the Text	vi
Introduction	vii
Suggestions for Further Reading	xxiii
BEHIND THE SCENES
Preface	3	(4)
Where I was born	7	(6)
Girlhood and its Sorrows	13	(6)
How I gained my Freedom	19	(9)
In the Family of Senator Jefferson Davis	28	(6)
My Introduction to Mrs. Lincoln	34	(7)
Willie Lincoln's Death-bed	41	(9)
Washington in 1862--3	50	(7)
Candid Opinions	57	(5)
Behind the Scenes	62	(6)
The Second Inauguration	68	(9)
The Assassination of President Lincoln	77	(12)
Mrs. Lincoln leaves the White House	89	(12)
The Origin of the Rivalry between Mr. Douglas and Mr. Lincoln	101	(5)
Old Friends	106	(13)
The Secret History of Mrs. Lincoln's Wardrobe in New York	119	(28)
Appendix---Letters from Mrs. Lincoln to Mrs. Keckley	147	(18)
Explanatory Notes	165