Who is Elizabeth Keckley?
This week, we discuss a woman whose journey from bondage to the heart of the Lincoln White House is a story of extraordinary perseverance and ingenuity. Her rise to prominence as a celebrated dressmaker and confidante to First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln, her authorship of the groundbreaking memoir Behind the Scenes, and her philanthropic leadership during and after the Civil War, all mark her as a pivotal figure in American history.
Yet, for much of the twentieth century, her story was marginalized - her achievements overshadowed by the very social barriers she fought to break down. Today, historians, artists, and writers are reclaiming her legacy, recognizing her not only as “Mrs. Lincoln’s dressmaker,” but as a businesswoman, author, activist, and Black female intellectual, whose life illuminates the intersections of race, gender, and power in nineteenth-century America.
So in this episode, we explore her early years in slavery, her struggle for freedom, her career in Washington,, and the enduring impact she has had on American culture and scholarship, as I ask… who is Elizabeth Keckley?
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Special Guest:
Professor Rebecca Fraser, a leading scholar of American history and culture at the University of East Anglia, specializing in the intersections of gender, race, and intellectual life in nineteenth-century America. Her recent book, Black Female Intellectuals in Nineteenth Century America: Born to Bloom Unseen?, reconceptualizes the very notion of “intellectual” to include women whose voices and creative work have long been excluded from mainstream scholarship.
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Highlights:
03:48 - Early life
08:16 - A day in the life of Elizabeth Keckley
13:51 - Robert and Anna
18:26 - Moving to St Louis
26:58 - Hustling to the White House
30:22 - Dressmaker to the First Lady
35:00 - Where did it all go wrong?
38:12 - Keckley the activist
42:56 - Keckley's legacy
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