Lincoln sent to Keckley, all of them about her efforts to sell her clothing for money after the war. I was truly startled to find an appendix full of personal, private letters that Mrs.
The book also feels a bit scandalous for a memoir of the 1860s, as it reveals private details of the lives of public figures. She passes over this quickly so she can get to the meat of her story–her observations of the Lincoln’s household and her defense of her friend Mrs. Who can blame her? It is not something a person would want to relive, even in memory. She also veils the identity of the white man who raped her when she was young, and passes over the abuse she endured at his hands, instead giving readers the poignantly simple statement that she became a mother. For instance, she notes that she stayed with her husband for eight years, but left him as he was a delinquent no more is to be said of him. Keckley almost seems to gloss over the account of her own life, particularly the years when she was enslaved, instead choosing to draw a veil of silence over the more uncomfortable and horrific aspects. It does not fit the general mold of the slave narrative–accounts written largely to enlist public sympathy for the cause of abolition. I really wanted to know more about Keckley, however, and had to satisfy myself with some more research after finishing her book.īehind the Scenes is really a striking book in many ways. Behind the Scenes is certainly a valuable look at the private lives of public figures–one written with a keen eye for detail as well as much sympathy for Mrs. Lincoln after the war, when Mary wanted to sell her clothes for monetary relief, and Keckley traveled to New York to aid her.
The longest, most detailed chapter recounts Keckley’s service to Mrs. I was, then, a bit surprised to discover that only the first three chapters of her book describe her years being enslaved and the rest is dedicated to providing an intimate look at the Lincoln household. The strength, resilience, and cleverness she must have had would have to be phenomenal.
during the years of the American Civil War. I picked up Elizabeth Keckley’s memoir Behind the Scenes because I wanted to learn more about a woman who was born in slavery, bought her freedom and that of her son, and then worked her way into the inner circles of society in Washington, D.C.
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