How One Amateur Historian Brought Us the Stories of African-Americans Who Knew Abraham Lincoln
Once John E. Washington started to dig, he found an incredible wealth of untapped knowledge about the 16th president
By Kate Masur
smithsonian.com
February 20, 2018 1:45PM
The memoir of Elizabeth Keckly, a formerly enslaved woman who became a dressmaker to First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln, struck a nerve when it was published in 1868. Behind the Scenes, or, Thirty Years a Slave, and Four Years in the White House was an unprecedented look at the Lincolns’ lives in the White House, but reviewers widely condemned its author for divulging personal aspects of their story, particularly the fragile emotional state of Mary Lincoln after her husband’s murder.
For decades after its publication, the book was difficult to find, and Keckly lived in relative obscurity. In black Washington, however, many African-Americans personally knew and admired her, and remained a beloved figure.
Read more:
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/how-one-amateur-historian-brought-us-stories-african-americans-who-knew-abraham-lincoln-180968215/#SPof2tVU6YXrsX04.99
