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Behind the Scenes: or, Thirty Years a Slave, and Four Years in the White House (Penguin Classics)
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About Behind The Scenes: Or, Thirty Years A Slave, And
Product Description 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 About the Author Elizabeth Hobbs Keckley (1818–1907) was born a slave near Dinwiddie Court House, Virginia, and, after purchasing her freedom, became head of the Domestic Science Department at Wilberforce University in Ohio. William L. Andrews is E. Maynard Adams Professor of English at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is the author of To Tell a Free Story and editor or coeditor of more than thirty books on African American literature. Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. Table of Contents Title Page Copyright Page Introduction PREFACE CHAPTER I - WHERE I WAS BORN CHAPTER II - GIRLHOOD AND ITS SORROWS CHAPTER III - HOW I GAINED MY FREEDOM CHAPTER IV - IN THE FAMILY OF SENATOR JEFFERSON DAVIS CHAPTER V - MY INTRODUCTION TO MRS. LINCOLN CHAPTER VI - WILLIE LINCOLN’S DEATH-BED CHAPTER VII - WASHINGTON IN 1862-3 CHAPTER VIII - CANDID OPINIONS CHAPTER IX - BEHIND THE SCENES CHAPTER X - THE SECOND INAUGURATION CHAPTER XI - THE ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT LINCOLN CHAPTER XII - MRS. LINCOLN LEAVES THE WHITE HOUSE CHAPTER XIII - THE ORIGIN OF THE RIVALRY BETWEEN MR. DOUGLAS AND MR. LINCOLN CHAPTER XIV - OLD FRIENDS CHAPTER XV - THE SECRET HISTORY OF MRS. LINCOLN’S WARDROBE IN NEW YORK APPENDIX Explanatory Notes PENGUINCLASSICS BEHIND THE SCENES ELIZABETH HOBBS KECKLEY (1818-1907) was born a slave near Dinwiddie Court House, Virginia, but purchased her freedom at the age of thirty-seven and set up a successful dressmaking business in Washington, D.C., in 1860. After serving as a seamstress for Varina Davis, wife of the Mississippi senator Jefferson Davis, Keckley became the modiste for Mary Todd Lincoln, the First Lady of the United States, shortly after Abraham Lincoln was inaugurated president of the United States in 1861. Gaining ready access to the Lincoln family by virtue of her constant employment by Mrs. Lincoln, Keckley spent much of the next four years in the White House, where she became not only Mary Todd Lincoln’s dressmaker but her friend and confidante. After President Lincoln was assassinated in the spring of 1865 and his widow moved back to Illinois, Keckley remained a trusted advisor and support to Mrs. Lincoln. Stung by public criticism of her efforts to help the debt-ridden former First Lady raise money by selling her expensive wardrobe, Keckley tried to defend herself in her autobiography, Behind the Scenes, Or, Thirty Years a Slave, and Four Years in the White House, which was published in New York in 1868. Keckley’s intimate perspective on the relationship between the martyred president and his wife, along with the publication of many letters from Mrs. Lincoln to Keckley, made Behind the Scenes instantly controversial as an “indecent book” authored by a “traitorous eavesdropper.” Returning to her business, Keckley lived and worked in Washington, D.C., until 1892, when she moved to Ohio to accept a position as head of Wilberforce University’s Domestic Science department. She died in 1907, a resident of the National Home for Destitute Colored Women and Children in Washington, D.C. WILLIAM L. ANDREWS, E. Maynard Adams Professor of English at the University of North Carolina at Cha
