Keckley was a former slave who became a successful Washington, D.C., dressmaker — and a confidante of Mary Todd Lincoln. This intimate bond allowed her to witness the happy times as well as the tragic events that unfolded within the Lincoln White House. A remarkable firsthand narrative of both African-American and Civil War history.
Table of Contents for Behind the Scenes in the Lincoln White House: Memoirs of an African-American Seamstress
Preface
I. Where I was born
II. Girlhood and its Sorrows
III. How I gained my Freedom
IV. In the Family of Senator Jefferson Davis
V. My Introduction to Mrs. Lincoln
VI. Willie Lincoln's Death-bed
VII. Washington in 1862-3
VIII. Candid Opinions
IX. Behind the Scenes
X. The Second Inauguration
XI. The Assassination of President Lincoln
XII. Mrs. Lincoln leaves the White House
XIII. The Origin of the Rivalry between Mr. Douglas and Mr. Lincoln
XIV. Old Friends
XV. The Secret History of Mrs. Lincoln's Wardrobe in New York
Appendix--Letters from Mrs. Lincoln to Mrs. Keckley