Behind the Scenes

or, Thirty Years a Slave, and Four Years in the White House

Elizabeth Keckley, William L. Andrews

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Hardback

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English

Penguin
26 July 2005

Biography: general; Literature, Poetry & Criticism; History of the Americas; Slavery & abolition of slavery

Originally published in 1868-when it was attacked as an ""indecent book"" authored by a ""traitorous eavesdropper""-Behind the Scenes is the story of Elizabeth Keckley, who began her life as a slave and became a privileged witness to the presidency of Abraham Lincoln. Keckley bought her freedom at the age of thirty-seven and set up a successful dressmaking business in Washington, D.C. She became modiste to Mary Todd Lincoln and in time her friend and confidante, a relationship that continued after Lincoln's assassination. In documenting that friendship-often using the First Lady's own letters-Behind the Scenes fuses the slave narrative with the political memoir. It remains extraordinary for its poignancy, candor, and historical perspective.

First time in Penguin Classics

By: Elizabeth Keckley
Introduction by: William L. Andrews
Imprint: Penguin
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 196mm, Width: 128mm, Spine: 13mm
Weight: 159g
ISBN: 9780143039242
ISBN 10: 0143039245
Pages: 208
Publication Date: 26 July 2005
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Elizabeth Hobbs Keckley was born in slavery in Virginia around 1818 and purchased her freedom in 1855. Keckley's memoir Behind the Scenes was published in 1868. The book included revelations about Mary Lincoln's private life, and, feeling betrayed, the former First Lady shunned Keckley. Her dressmaking business declined, and she died in poverty in 1907 at the Home for Destitute Women and Children in Washington, one of the institutions she had helped to found.