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.
<ul><li>First time in Penguin Classics</li></ul>

Behind the Scenes: or, Thirty Years a Slave, and Four Years in the White House (Penguin Classics)

Biographies & Memoirs

Keckley, Elizabeth

Community & Culture

Penguin Classics

Part slave narrative, part memoir, and part sentimental fiction, Behind the Scenes depicts Elizabeth Keckley's years as a slave and subsequent four years in Abraham Lincoln's White House during the Civil War. As public drama privately experienced, Keckley's work presents Jefferson Davis and his wife, Abraham Lincoln and Mary Todd Lincoln, and even Stephen Douglas and "Mrs. Senator Douglas" in the foreground, with the war, and slavery as the issue that precipitated it, in the background. Through the eyes of this black woman--an ex-slave, seamstress, and dressmaker--we see a wide range of historical figures and events of the antebellum South, the Washington of the Civil War years, and the final stages of the war.

Behind the Scenes: Or, Thirty Years a Slave, and Four Years in the White House (The ^ASchomburg Library of Nineteenth-Century Black Women Writers)

Oxford University Press

Born into slavery, Elizabeth Hobbs Keckley rose to a position of respect as a talented dressmaker and designer to the political elite of Washington, DC, and a confidante of First Lady, Mary Todd Lincoln. This memoir offers a behind-the-scenes view of the formal and informal networks that African Americans established among themselves.

Behind the Scenes: Formerly a slave, but more recently modiste, and friend to Mrs. Lincoln; or, Thirty Years a Slave, and Four Years in the White House

University of Illinois Press

A seamstress and friend of Mrs. Abraham Lincoln describes her days as a slave and her memories of the martyred President and his First Lady

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

Ayer Company, Publishers, Inc.

Born a slave in Virginia, Elizabeth Keckley (c. 1824–1907) went on to become a talented dressmaker and designer, with some twenty employees of her own. Catering to the wives, daughters, and sisters of Washington's political elite, she included among her clientele Mary Todd Lincoln, who became her close friend and confidante. Keckley's behind-the-scenes view of wartime Washington not only provides fascinating glimpses of nineteenth-century America, but also offers candid observations on interracial relationships and the free black middle class. Here also are absorbing details of life in the Lincoln White House, as well as an insider's perspective on the men who made Civil War politics and the women who influenced them. A touching and revelatory work, filled with incisive social commentary, this inspiring narrative by an admirable woman will be an important addition to the libraries of anyone interested in African-American and Civil War history.

Behind the Scenes in the Lincoln White House: Memoirs of an African-American Seamstress (Civil War)

Dover Publications

I HAVE often been asked to write my life, as those who know me know that it has been an eventful one. At last I have acceded to the importunities of my friends, and have hastily sketched some of the striking incidents that go to make up my history. My life, so full of romance, may sound like a dream to the matter-of-fact reader, nevertheless everything I have written is strictly true; much has been omitted, but nothing has been exaggerated. In writing as I have done, I am well aware that I have invited criticism; but before the critic judges harshly, let my explanation be carefully read and weighed. If I have portrayed the dark side of slavery, I also have painted the bright side. The good that I have said of human servitude should be thrown into the scales with the evil that I have said of it. I have kind, true-hearted friends in the South as well as in the North, and I would not wound those Southern friends by sweeping condemnation, simply because I was once a slave. They were not so much responsible for the curse under which I was born, as the God of nature and the fathers who framed the Constitution for the United States. The law descended to them, and it was but natural that they should recognize it, since it manifestly was their interest to do so. And yet a wrong was inflicted upon me; a cruel custom deprived me of my liberty, and since I was robbed of my dearest right, I would not have been human had I not rebelled against the robbery. God rules the Universe. I was a feeble instrument in His hands, and through me and the enslaved millions of my race, one of the problems was solved that belongs to the great problem of human destiny; and the solution was developed so gradually that there was no great convulsion of the harmonies of natural laws. A solemn truth was thrown to the surface, and what is better still, it was recognized as a truth by those who give force to moral laws. An act may be wrong, but unless the ruling power recognizes the wrong, it is useless to hope for a correction of it. Principles may be right, but they are not established within an hour. The masses are slow to reason, and each principle, to acquire moral force, must come to us from the fire of the crucible; the fire may inflict unjust punishment, but then it purifies and renders stronger the principle, not in itself, but in the eyes of those who arrogate judgment to themselves. When the war of the Revolution established the independence of the American colonies, an evil was perpetuated, slavery was more firmly established; and since the evil had been planted, it must pass through certain stages before it could be eradicated. In fact, we give but little thought to the plant of evil until it grows to such monstrous proportions that it overshadows important interests; then the efforts to destroy it become earnest. As one of the victims of slavery I drank of the bitter water; but then, since destiny willed it so, and since I aided in bringing a solemn truth to the surface as a truth, perhaps I have no right to complain. Here, as in all things pertaining to life, I can afford to be charitable.

Behind the Scenes: Thirty Years a Slave & Four Years in the White House

Historical

Reprint Services Corp

Behind the Scenes is the life story of Elizabeth Keckley, a shrewd entrepreneur who, while enslaved, raised enough money to purchase freedom for herself and her son. Keckley moved to Washington, D.C., where she worked as a seamstress and dressmaker for the wives of influential politicians. She eventually became a close confidante of Mary Todd Lincoln. Several years after President Lincoln's assassination, when Mrs. Lincoln's financial situation had worsened, Keckley helped organize an auction of the former first lady's dresses, eliciting strong criticism from members of the Washington elite. Behind the Scenes is, therefore, both a slave narrative and Keckley's attempt to defend the motives behind the auction. However, the book's publication prompted an even greater public outcry, with the added racial subtext of white society's disdain for Keckley's audacity in publishing details of the Lincolns' private lives. Keckley's dressmaking business failed, the Lincoln family cut all ties with her, and she lived out her final days in a home for the indigent. Scholars have acknowledged the book's valuable account of slave life as well as its intimate view into the Lincoln White House. Biographers of the Lincolns have quoted extensively from Keckley's text. A DOCSOUTH BOOK. This collaboration between UNC Press and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Library brings classic works from the digital library of Documenting the American South back into print. DocSouth Books uses the latest digital technologies to make these works available in paperback and e-book formats. Selected and edited by Bryan Giemza, Director of the Southern Historical Collection, each book contains a short summary and is otherwise unaltered from the original publication. DocSouth Books provide affordable and easily accessible editions to a new generation of scholars, students, and general readers.

Behind the Scenes, or, Thirty Years a Slave, and Four Years in the White House (Docsouth Books)

A DocSouth Books Edition: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Library

In "Behind The Scenes", Elizabeth Keckley tells of the 30 years she spent in slavery, how she gained her freedom and of her remarkable friendship with Mary Todd Lincoln for whom she worked as a seamstress in the Lincoln White House.

Behind the Scenes: A Memoir

Masterbuy Audio Books

I have often been asked to write my life, as those who know me know that it has been an eventful one. At last I have acceded to the importunities of my friends, and have hastily sketched some of the striking incidents that go to make up my history. My life, so full of romance, may sound like a dream to the matter-of-fact reader, nevertheless everything I have written is strictly true; much has been omitted, but nothing has been exaggerated. In writing as I have done, I am well aware that I have invited criticism; but before the critic judges harshly, let my explanation be carefully read and weighed. If I have portrayed the dark side of slavery, I also have painted the bright side. The good that I have said of human servitude should be thrown into the scales with the evil that I have said of it. I have kind, true-hearted friends in the South as well as in the North, and I would not wound those Southern friends by sweeping condemnation, simply because I was once a slave. They were not so much responsible for the curse under which I was born, as the God of nature and the fathers who framed the Constitution for the United States. The law descended to them, and it was but natural that they should recognize it, since it manifestly was their interest to do so. And yet a wrong was inflicted upon me; a cruel custom deprived me of my liberty, and since I was robbed of my dearest right, I would not have been human had I not rebelled against the robbery. God rules the Universe. I was a feeble instrument in His hands, and through me and the enslaved millions of my race, one of the problems was solved that belongs to the great problem of human destiny; and the solution was developed so gradually that there was no great convulsion of the harmonies of natural laws.\n- Taken from "Behind The Scenes Or, Thirty Years A Slave, And Four Years In The White House" written by Elizabeth Keckley (Formerly a slave, but more recently modiste, and friend to Mrs. Abraham Lincoln.)

Behind The Scenes Or, Thirty Years A Slave, And Four Years In The White House

Independently published

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Keckley, Elizabeth. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Keckley, Elizabeth

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Keckley, Elizabeth. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Behind the Scenes: or, Thirty Years a Slave, and Four Years in the White House (Penguin Classics)

Behind the Scenes: Or, Thirty Years a Slave, and Four Years in the White House (The ^ASchomburg Library of Nineteenth-Century Black Women Writers)

Behind the Scenes: Or, Thirty Years a Slave, and Four Years in the White House (The ^ASchomburg Library of Nineteenth-Century Black Women Writers)

Behind the Scenes: Formerly a slave, but more recently modiste, and friend to Mrs. Lincoln; or, Thirty Years a Slave, and Four Years in the White House

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

Behind the Scenes in the Lincoln White House: Memoirs of an African-American Seamstress (Civil War)

Behind the Scenes: Thirty Years a Slave & Four Years in the White House

Behind the Scenes, or, Thirty Years a Slave, and Four Years in the White House (Docsouth Books)

Behind the Scenes: A Memoir

Behind The Scenes Or, Thirty Years A Slave, And Four Years In The White House