![]() ![]() But the narrative is less about her than about her employers. The story becomes a revelation of the life ‘behind the scenes’ of the White House where she lived and worked for four years, until Lincoln’s assassination left her out of a job. Keckly tells us how she worked her way up to financial independence by being a skilled seamstress, eventually serving as Mrs Lincoln’s private tailor (or modiste as she pointedly calls herself, drawing attention to the artistry and skill that this label suggests). Although it begins as a slave narrative, revealing in a matter-of-fact way the horrors Keckly had to endure until her thirties when she bought her own freedom – including familial separation, cruel owners, brutal beatings, rape and ensuing pregnancy – the narrative shifts focus and form halfway through and becomes the story of a successful businesswoman with unparalleled insight into the lives of the highest-ranking political couple in the land: President and Mrs Lincoln. ![]() ![]() (Whilst her published name is ‘Keckley’, ‘Keckly’ is the spelling she used in the rest of her life). But Keckly’s autobiography stands out for several reasons. We have seen some of these accounts already in Ten-Minute Book Club so far. ![]() By 1868, when Behind the Scenes was published, readers were familiar with the genre of the slave narrative, which gave vital and moving eyewitness accounts of the atrocities of slavery and helped to fuel the abolition movement. ![]()
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