The Dressmaker & the First Lady

The Dressmaker and the First Lady
Presented by Kentucky Humanities
Thursday, Aug. 22
6 pm

Formerly enslaved, Elizabeth Keckly was an activist and author in Washington, D.C. But first, she was the confidante and dressmaker for Mary Todd Lincoln. Mary gave Elizabeth numerous articles after the assassination of Lincoln, including his blood-splattered cloak from that fateful night. Keckly’s dressmaking business was famous—and included wives of other famous politicians such as Varina Davis, wife of Jefferson Davis, and Mary Ann Custis Lee, wife of Robert E. Lee. Keckly’s autobiography, Behind the Scenes: Or, Thirty Years a Slave and Four Years in the White House, is a compelling narrative of an enslaved person and a controversial look at Kentucky’s famous first lady.