- Achieved freedom in 1855
- Became successful dressmaker in Washington, eventually working for Mary Lincoln
- Founded Contraband Relief Association in 1862 to help former slaves
- Published autobiography about her life
Table of contents
Early Years
Elizabeth Hobbs Keckly* (1818-1907) was born into slavery in North Carolina. Her mother was a seamstress. Elizabeth was originally told that her father was George Hobbs, a slave who lived on a plantation one hundred miles away. For the first eight years of Elizabeth’s life, Hobbs visited his wife and child at Christmas and Easter. Then Hobbs’s owner moved away, and George was never again able to return to see his family.
On plantations, it was common for children born into slavery to be used as companions to a plantation owner’s young children. Keckly was only age 4 or 5 when she took on nursemaid duties for the plantation family. There were four white children under the age of ten. Elizabeth was given the responsibility of taking care of the most recently born infant daughter.
As Elizabeth’s mother was dying, she revealed to Elizabeth that though her husband was George Hobbs, Elizabeth’s true father was the owner of the plantation where they lived.
New Households
When Elizabeth was in her teens, the plantation owner sent her to work for his son’s household. While working there, she became a target of abuse by the village schoolmaster who summoned her for beatings.
Later, she was sold and sent to St. Louis where she was raped. She gave birth to her only son, George, named after her own presumed father.
Buying Her Way Out of Slavery
Keckly’s owner in St. Louis faced a downturn I his business. He knew that Elizabeth Keckly was an excellent seamstress (a skill she learned from her mother). He permitted her to establish a shop where she could make clothing for other people. Her business did very well, however, her owner collected most of her earnings. For several years, she supported her owner and his family.
By working in the shop, Keckly was in touch with many women in St. Louis who were active in the abolition movement. They frequently talked to Keckly about what could be done so that she and her son could be free.
She approached her owner several times to request a dollar amount that would buy them freedom. Initially, the man put her off and refused to give a price.
After several more requests from Keckly, he finally stipulated $1200. Because most of her wages were collected by Mr. Garland, $1200 was an impossible figure for her to raise on her own.
Several of her customers offered to help. One of them came forward with $400. The woman also got friends to donate the remaining amount needed.
Her owner kept his side of the bargain. When Keckly delivered the money, she and her son were free.
Education Important
Elizabeth Keckly wanted her son to have an education. When he was old enough, she enrolled him in Wilberforce University. The university was founded in 1856 in Ohio, near one of the stops of the Underground Railroad.)
For a time, Keckly continued to run her St. Louis-based business. When she decided to relocate, her first move was to Maryland, but laws there were tightening on former slaves.
In 1860, she moved to Washington D.C., where she acquired an excellent reputation among society women. Soon she was doing work for women such as Varnia Davis (wife of Jefferson Davis) and Mary Anne Randolph Custis Lee (wife of Robert E. Lee).
George Keckly Goes to War
When the war started, her son, George Jr., wanted to fight for the Union. African Americans could not enlist in the military until the laws were changed in 1863, but because his father was white, George Jr. was able to go to war. Sadly for Elizabeth, her son was killed in August of 1861 at the battle of Wilson’s Creek in Missouri.
Elizabeth Keckly remained in Washington. Her reputation was growing, and when the Lincolns moved into the White House, Keckly was recommended to Mary Todd Lincoln. She was soon the First Lady’s favorite seamstress. (One of Keckly’s dresses is in the Smithsonian as Mary wore it for the second inauguration.)
Elizabeth Keckly became one of the few people who could calm Mary Lincoln when she was upset. Keckley not only made Mary’s dresses but she was at the White House each morning to help Mary get dressed. This gave her an unusual view of the White House and the Lincoln family.
In the meantime, Keckly’s reputation for her design work and fine sewing brought her many customers from Washington society. By 1865, she employed almost 20 women in her 12th Street shop.
Keckly Helped with War Effort
In Washington in 1862, Keckly saw that people in D.C. were raising funds for relief of the white soldiers. Keckly gathered a group of people from her 15th Street Presbyterian Church and suggested that they form a group to raise money for their own unfortunates. As early as 1863, thousands of escaped or newly freed slaves were looking for help.
Keckly and her group formed the Ladies’ Contraband Relief Association.
Because Keckly often traveled with the Lincolns, she could be in touch with people in other communities to gather support. The group raised money and gathered food and clothing. they sponsored Christmas dinners for the sick and wounded from the war. It was badly needed. In 1864 the organization changed its name to the Ladies’ Freedmen and Soldiers’ Relief Association. After the war, they helped find teachers for the schools for the newly freed.
After Lincoln’s Assassination
After her husband was assassinated, Mary Lincoln moved to Chicago to be near her son Robert. Keckly escorted her, but Keckly returned to Washington after Mary was settled. The two women remained close and corresponded.
When Mary Lincoln ran into financial difficulty and wanted to sell some of her clothing, Keckly met her in New York to help her find buyers. Unfortunately for Mary, the story came to light, and it became known as the “old clothes” scandal. Mary Lincoln was attacked in the press for daring to sell her clothes to raise money.
Keckly’s Autobiography
In 1868, Keckly published her ghostwritten autobiography, Behind the Scenes, Or, Thirty Years a Slave and Four Years in the White House. Keckly apparently thought her book would help restore her former employer’s reputation. But in that day, the idea that a “colored” person could step forward to tell “behind the scenes” stories was viewed poorly. Mrs. Lincoln felt betrayed by the woman she described as “my best living friend.” Elizabeth Keckly’s reputation was ruined, and the Washington women turned elsewhere for a seamstress.
Wilberforce Offers Job
A representative of Wilberforce University, the college Keckly’s son attended, came forward to help. In 1892, she was offered a faculty position at Wilberforce as head of the Department of Sewing and Domestic Science Arts. Within a year, she was organizing a dress exhibit for the Chicago World’s Fair.
Her last years did not sustain this positive momentum. She returned to Washington in 1907, and ironically needed help from one of the organization she helped form after the war. She was living at the National Home for Destitute Colored Women and Children when she died.
*Recent research reveals that Elizabeth Keckly wrote her own name as “Keckly.” While many sources still refer to her as Elizabeth Keckley, this article uses her preferred spelling.
For more information about Mary Lincoln, read Mary Lincoln’s Shopping Habits in Perspective.
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