Elizabeth Hobbes Keckly (Keckley)

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May 29 7:30pm
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May 30 6:30pm
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About Elizabeth Keckly (Keckley)

In December of 1835, a young enslaved woman named Elizabeth Hobbes accompanied Robert and Anna Burwell to Hillsborough. "Lizzie," as she was known, had been born into slavery in the household of the Rev. Burwell's father and was sent to live with Robert and Anna Burwell when they married. Elizabeth Hobbes lived in Hillsborough, in the Burwell household, for approximately five years.

According to Mrs. Keckly's memoir, Behind the Scenes: Thirty Years as a Slave and Four Years in the White House, during their early years in Hillsborough, the Burwell family "practiced the closest economy" and she "did the work of three servants, and yet I was scolded and regarded with distrust." She spoke fondly of Robert Burwell in her memoir, having known him as a young man in his father's house. She called him "unusually kind" and "naturally good natured", but she described Anna Burwell as "morbidly sensitive" with a "cold, jealous heart". Mrs. Keckly's memoir she also describes severe physical abuse at the hands of the Robert Burwell and a neighbor, William Bingham. Mrs. Keckly also wrote that "These revolting scenes created a great sensation at the time, were the talk of the town and the neighborhood, and I flatter myself that the actions of those who had conspired against me were not viewed in a light to reflect much credit upon them."

While she was in Hillsborough, young Elizabeth Hobbes also had a child, against her will, with a prominent white man. In 1839, after the birth of her son George, Elizabeth Hobbes left Hillsborough and returned to Virginia, to the home of Robert Burwell's younger sister Ann Garland. The Garland family then moved to St. Louis where Mrs. Keckly, who had become a skilled seamstress, provided income for the family by creating elaborate 19th century dresses. While in St. Louis, Elizabeth Hobbes married James Keckly, but they lived together only a short time. On November 15, 1855 with loans from her wealthy clients, Mrs. Keckly purchased her freedom that of her son George.

Elizabeth Keckly left St. Louis in 1860 and established her own dressmaking business, first in Baltimore and then in Washington, D.C. Among her prominent clients were Mrs. Robert E. Lee, Mrs. Varina Davis, wife of Jefferson Davis, and, perhaps most significantly, the First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln. Mrs. Keckly became much more than a dressmaker to Mrs. Lincoln, functioning as her confidante and, in Mrs. Lincoln's own words, "her best friend." In this position, she interacted with the First Family on a very personal basis, traveled with the First Lady, and was an intimate witness to many of the extraordinary events of the Lincoln Presidency.

Partially motivated by her friendship with the unpopular former First Lady, Mrs. Keckly wrote a memoir that told her own story and attempted to paint a sympathetic picture of Mrs. Lincoln. The book, entitled Behind the Scenes: Thirty Years as a Slave and Four Years in the White House, was published by Carleton and Co. in 1868. The publication of her memoir marked the end of her friendship with Mrs. Lincoln who felt her confidence had been betrayed. Elizabeth Hobbes Keckly finished her career teaching in the Department of Sewing and Domestic Science Arts at Wilberforce University in Xenia, Ohio. She died in Washington, D.C., in 1907, at the age of 88.

Behind the Scenes: Thirty Years as a Slave and Four Years in the White House is available online from UNC.