Behind the Scenes: Or, Thirty Years a Slave, and Four Years in the White House
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(as of May 02, 2025 11:13:49 UTC – Details)
Behind the Scenes: or Thirty Years a Slave and Four Years in the White House was first published in 1868 and is considered one of the most candid and poignant slave narratives. Author Elizabeth Hobbs Keckley writes about her teenage years, working as a slave for the Rev. Robert Burwell in Hillsborough, NC. He is thought by many historians to have been Keckley s half-brother. The Burwells had twelve children and ran an academy for girls. She writes about mistreatment and violence visited upon her by Rev. and Mrs. Burwell, and the unwelcome sexual advances and eventual rape by one of the town s white citizens. After Keckley gave birth to a son, she and her baby were sent to live with Burwell s sister.
Born into slavery, Elizabeth Hobbs Keckley endured untold hardships at the hands of her master and half-brother Robert Burwell in Hillsborough, North Carolina. She eventually purchased freedom for herself and that of her son in the 1850s and is now remembered as an entrepreneur, fashion designer, abolitionist, educator, writer, and community activist. Self-reliant and educated, Keckley used her dressmaking skills to set up a successful business in the pre-Civil War Washington D.C., where she became the modiste of choice for many of the most fashionable women in the nation s capital. Her talents and enterprising nature eventually led her to become seamstress to Mary Todd Lincoln and confidante to both Mary and Abraham Lincoln. After the assassination of President Lincoln, Keckley s friendship with Mary Todd Lincoln eventually shifted into one of caretaker, as the former first lady s financial troubles mounted and her mental health declined. In an effort to buoy their financial fortunes and to balance Lincoln s battered public image, Keckley wrote Behind the Scenes: or, Thirty Years a Slave and Four Years in the While House. It is considered both a slave narrative and, in the words of historian Williams Andrews, the first major text to represent the interests and aims of this nascent African American leadership class the postwar era.
Publisher : Eno Publishers; Reprint edition (April 4, 2016)
Language : English
Paperback : 170 pages
ISBN-10 : 0989609278
ISBN-13 : 978-0989609272
Item Weight : 9.6 ounces
Dimensions : 8.9 x 5.9 x 1 inches
Customers say
Customers find the book provides wonderful insight into history and is very well written. They appreciate its pacing, with one customer noting it is filled with tenderness and forgiveness. Customers praise the author’s intelligence, with one describing her as an amazing woman. The book’s length receives mixed reactions, with one customer finding it boring.
8 reviews for Behind the Scenes: Or, Thirty Years a Slave, and Four Years in the White House
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Rayme Sciaroni –
Incredible back story that nobody knows!
Great story behind the scenes and the unknown people we never realize that were a huge back bone of our country making it the once great nation it was…and will be again…
Pamella foster –
Unknown History Revealed
The story of Elizabeth is epic! All that she endured and all her successes are noted in this book. She gives insight, into the Lincoln family, that no history book would have access to. As I read this book, all I wanted to do was to meet this woman, and just have a conversation. I am sure it would have been life-changing. I highly recommend this book if you are a lover of US history, and for Illinois, who takes great pride in Abraham Lincoln, being our 16th president, it gave me great joy.
Tanisha Griffin –
Great read
This was ask interesting read and worth buying. I do wish it had a better ending.
Bonnie –
Elizabeth Keckley was an angel
Good book. Mary Lincoln used her
westward home –
Story about the woman who made dresses for Mary Todd Lincoln
This was an interesting book, but I would describe it as dated. By that I mean that the writer was determined not to offend anyone. There was some back lash when the author became more commercial after the death of Mrs. Lincoln and she was very concerned to explain away her actions and reinforce for the better Mrs. Lincoln’s reputation not to mention that she went to great and boring length’s to deny taking advantage of her position. I wish she had not done that and told the unvarnished truth, but that was then and she was living in a very hostile environment and who can blame her. But it made for such a not so interesting and old fashioned book.
Jon Hunt –
A wonderful insight into history
Elizabeth Hobbs Keckley wrote “Behind the Scenes” in 1868, a clear breach of the etiquette of the day and with its publication the Lincoln family disowned her. She had been with the Lincolns in the White House for almost their entire tenure and after the prersident’s assassination in 1865, remained a close confidant of Mary Lincoln for three or four years more. What Mrs. Keckley brings is her observations of nor only Mary Lincoln, who seems to reflect historians views of her as slightly “wacko” but also her remembrances of President Lincoln. They called each other “mother” and “father” and when their son Willie dies in the White Houses, Keckley reflects the president’s own depression at the loss of his son.The writing is so much more formal that what we are used to today but the passions are no less. Mrs. Keckley writes from the heart. Much of the latter part of the book is devoted to Mary Lincoln’s trips to New York after the assassination in order to try to sell off personal belongings to overcome her massive debts. There is a real element of humor in these trips and the exasperation that Mrs. Keckley felt is palpable.”Behind the Scenes” is a terrific book and if you are looking for something Lincoln “new”, this book of recollections is for you. It is simply wonderful.
C.M.King –
Very interesting bit of history.
Elizabeth Keckely is a very articulate writer. An interesting behind the scenes at President Lincoln’s time. Great bit of history.
Kathleen Rehagen –
Come meet Elizabeth Keckley
I found out about this book as I walked through a museum with a display about women’s rights. I was fascinated by Elizabeth Keckley from that and wanted to know here better. This book os so forthright, honest, and insightful that I recommend it to all history lovers (it shows scenes from the life of President and Mrs. Lincoln in their home. A wonderful story really.