Unmasking the Genteel Performer: Elizabeth Keckley's behind the Scenes and the Politics of Public Wrath

Former Slaves on the Move: The Plantation Household, the White House, and the Postwar South as Spaces of Transit in Elizabeth Keckley’s Behind the Scenes

“…As one of the members of the family complained in a letter to the former slave: "I have had to be at times dining-room servant, housemaid, and the last and most difficult, dairymaid" (228). The narrator seems puzzled at most white women's lack of skills, describing how "pitifully illprepared for the postwar era" (Sorisio 2000: 23) they were, unlike her and other exslaves whose work on the plantation made them ready to face all kinds of challenges. In fact, this scene seems to echo Keckley's remarks at the beginning of the book when she asserts that she had learned some "principles of character" (10) which helped her survive enslavement and prosper in her postbellum life.…”

“…Rafia Zafar highlights that Keckley's focus on Lincoln's wife is so intense that it almost seems as if there was a "contest between competing and unconscious beliefs, between the desire to tell her own story and that of another" (Zafar 1997: 170). Other critics, such as Francis Smith Foster (1998), Elizabeth Young (1999, and Carolyn Sorisio (2000), have emphasized the extent to which the narrator seems to enjoy presenting herself in opposition to the president's wife, who fails to "exercise the proper discipline, honesty, and self-reliance, [the former slave] in contrast, seem[s] all the more admirable" (Foster 1998: lxxv). Mary Todd Lincoln was profoundly unpopular in Washington society because of her "ignorance and vulgarity" (75).…”

Black fashion designers matter: A qualitative study exploring the experiences of Black female fashion design entrepreneurs

“…Although Mrs. Lincoln expressed "I cannot afford to be extravagant. We are just from the West, and are poor" (Keckley, 1868a, p. 85), she was known to be a compulsive shopper and often criticized for her conspicuous consumption during wartime (Sorisio, 2000). Mrs. Lincoln was also known for her sense of style and lavish fashions and jewelry earning her the title "the Republican queen" for her displays of elegance (Smithsonian Institution Archives, n.d.).…”

“…(Edelstein, 2012, p.149) It was these intimate moments that were recounted in Keckley' The book was written following President Lincoln's assassination in an effort to aid Mrs. Lincoln who became so destitute at the time, that she resorted to selling her husband's personal items as well as her own celebrated wardrobe (Adams, 2001). The debacle came to be known as the "Old Clothes Scandal" (Sorisio, 2000). In writing her memoirs, Keckley's intentions were to not only clear her own name but also to protect Mrs. Lincoln's character as she asserted "to defend myself, I must defend the lady that I have served" (Keckley, 1868a, p. xiv).…”

“…Lincoln's friends were so angered that they purchased and burned up all the copies they could get their hands on and her son, Robert Lincoln demanded publishers to remove the book from circulation (Alexander, 1982;Sorisio, 2000). Mrs. Lincoln, who was deeply offended by the publication as well, "refused to speak to Keckley, disparaged her as 'the colored historian' (emphasis hers), and even denied ever having met her (Keckley, 1868b, p. xiv).…”