Elizabeth Keckly

Elizabeth Keckly (1818-1907) was born to an enslaved person named Agnes and her captor named Amistead Burwell. Eventually, Keckly purchased her and her family from the Burwells and was able to move to Washington, D.C., where she established herself as a dressmaker for many high society women of the time. Keckly was First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln’s personal dressmaker and confidante from 1861 until 1868, when the two became estranged upon the publication of Keckly’s autobiography “Behind the Scenes: Thirty Years a Slave and Four Years in the White House.” In 1862, Keckly worked closely with the city’s Black churches to solicit funds for the foundation of the Contraband Relief Association, an organization that provided shelter, food, support, and clothing for freed people living in the capital. She was backed by Frederick Douglass, Wendell Phillips, President Abraham Lincoln, and Mary Todd Lincoln. In 1907, Elizabeth Keckly died in the National Home for Destitute Colored Women and Children, which she had helped fund through the Contraband Relief Association.