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Behind the Scenes will engage equally the history buff, the gossip monger, and the lover of literature. Elizabeth Keckley's narrative is riveting as she recounts life in the White House during the Lincoln administration in meticulous detail. After a brief, unhappy marriage, she begins her rapid social ascent from seamstress for the solid South's 'best ladies' to Mary Todd Lincoln's best friend and confidante. Having worked as a reputable seamstress for three years while also performing her full-time duties as a slavewoman, she finally manages to buy freedom for both herself and her son. The opening three chapters establish her as a woman to be reckoned with: the 'school of slavery,' as she calls her bondage, taught her to be fiercely self-reliant, persevering, and defiant, though more than one slavemaster tried to beat her into submission. Thirty Years a Slave: A Chapter In The Life OF Elizabeth Keckley AudereTV 497 subscribers Subscribe 235K views 9 years ago Set in 1800s America, A now free black woman is retelling her. Keckley moved to Washington, D.C. It blends autobiography with ? is there a word to describe a biography that disparages its subject? Although Elizabeth Keckley lived longer as a slave than as modiste to First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln, most of her engrossing autobiography is devoted to her White House years. 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. Elizabeth Keckley's post-Civil War life story is part slave narrative, part gossip column, part Horatio Alger story.

30 years a slave elizabeth keckley