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Elizabeth keckley. Miss kackley is the only person on our program today who's been enslaved. She was free by the time of the Civil War and out of trade. I'm also want to say I'm representing other enslaved, women, such as my great-grandmother, Harriet Hayes Robbins, her mother still is Hayes Morris. And her mother Harriet Morris, all of whom were enslaved until the war ended. And so, I'm playing tribute to all the women who were enslaved before, and during the Civil War, Again we hit we hit we have Miss Kathleen, good afternoon. It's my pleasure to be here. I was born in 1818 and Dinwiddie Virginia. I was born, I was born in 1818 and then Woody Virginia on the Burwell Plantation. My mother was enslaved, and therefore I was enslaved at the age of four. I was to become the made of a newborn child. I was taken to the nursery and I was told if I did a good job and I would continue to be her little mate, Now if you think about what four-year-olds are doing today, imagine what that was like, I was to rock her and the Cradle to keep the flies off of her and make sure that she didn't cry. While I was a little bit too enthusiastic with my rocking and unfortunately the Cradle tumble over in the baby fell out and I didn't know what to do. So I saw the one of the fire shovels that I'm trying to show her the baby back in the Cradle. The mistress came in and sort, of course, she was very upset and she had me taken out and flogged. That was the first time that I realized that I was actually belong to someone else. My mother couldn't do anything to help me and I was just To do what I was told to do and to not complain. Because we have limited time. I'm just going to kind of go over my history. Some of it was told earlier today, one of the problems that developed in my life was that, I found out that the man that I thought was my father wasn't the master was my father, and his wife was very upset about that because she could see how much I look like her own children. So, she did her best to To make my life miserable. I was being flogged, hit with a chair, hit with a cane over the process of my life because I was considered, she felt, I was too proud for the new position that I was in. When she was not able to really break my spirit the way she wanted to, she gave me to a plantation owner in Hillsboro and for four years I had to live with him and the result was, of course my only child George moving further into my life.

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Once I had a child, of course, then I was returned to one of my original owners. And they moved to st. Louis Missouri. Because I had been taught by my mother to make ball gowns everyday gowns. The Civil War type of Civil War gowns. That you see in magazines, I was able to raise money for my owners and when I was in st. Louis, I was able to help feed 17, members of my owners family for my sewing skills alone. But in st. Louis for the first time I saw people colored people free and I decided Well I wanted to be free and my son. I wanted him to be free and I started asking my owner what do I need to do to get my freedom and he would well, first he said well you can just go and get one of those boats and go across the river and you'll be free. But I knew if I did that, I could be brought back to slavery. So I continue to ask him and finally he said, twelve hundred dollars, you get twelve hundred dollars and you can be free. Well, that was kind of difficult because all the money that I made went to my owners. But I was able to ask some of my patrons here in st. Louis to help me pay for my freedom. I was able to earn twelve hundred dollars because they gave it to me and I promised that I would work continued to work until I pay them back and I did and that was around 1855. So, if you think about $1200 doesn't seem like a lot today, but that was a lot In 1855. I first went to Baltimore and try to open a sewing facility there. But it was very slow and it just wasn't working. So I came to DC, I was able to make clothing costumes gowns for many of the high society. Ladies in Washington, d.c. the wives of the congressmen and senators. And I even designed for mrs. Jefferson Davis. And for also mrs. Robert E Lee. And when the South to see that mrs. Davis, Greener Davis wanted me to go south with them and continue to be her seamstress, but I was not going to do that because I was afraid. I would end up in slavery again. And also I wanted to design for mrs. Lincoln I was introduced to mrs. Lincoln. And she said, if I was if my fees were reasonable, I could get all of her work. Therefore, I, I was able to not only become her seamstress, I was known as a modiste which meant they would have seemed to, since they're made those form-fitting gowns, and with a really wide skirts. And I became not only her dress murder but her confidante and her closest friend. My son, unfortunately. Because he was very very light-skinned joined the Union Army as a white man and he was killed early in the war. When mrs. Lincoln's son was also died, that bound us even more closely together. And this is one of the reasons why she was pretty dependent upon me for a lot of things. During that period of time. As was mentioned, that I helped to form the Contraband relief Association which was aiding priest free people of color. They were coming into DC. I chose them to be too right, too, so, and to take care of themselves. When President Lincoln was assassinated, I was the first person mrs. Lincoln asked for, but they couldn't find me because they didn't know where I live. I went to her and they wouldn't let me through to get to her because they were afraid the next day. The next morning, I was able to go to her and the first thing she said, Lizzie or she called me. Lindsay, why didn't you come to me? Over the time after the assassination. I went with mrs. Lincoln to try to help sell some of her clothes because she was kind of destitute some her clothes, her jewelry, her hats. And unfortunately, that was leaked out and well, it became a sensation and she was looked upon his Not doing the right things now today, it's different, but then it was, it was really, really bad. So, I decided to write a book and when I go back, I will show you my book. It's called 30 years behind the scenes or 30 years of slave for years in the White House. And this book was actually written. It was my autobiography, but it was also written to help mrs. Lincoln I have the Assurance from the publisher that none of the letters that I gave him the prove what I said was true would be published. But of course, you know what he did. You put them at the end of the book and the result of that was an expose of mrs. Lincoln at a very critical time. Her son was Furious. He had all the books that he could get collected and destroyed. So she didn't benefit, I didn't benefit, and it destroyed our relationship. my last days were spent at the home for destitute Colored Women and Children which I also helped found I was brokenhearted because I did not have the special relationship with mrs. Lincoln anymore. But I was thankful for my time in the White House. I thank you for your attendance.