Behind the Scenes Author:Elizabeth Keckley "Formerly a slave, but more recently modiste, and friend to Mrs. Lincoln or, Thirty Years a Slave and Four Years in the White House. ... It is the story of Elizabeth Hobbs Keckley, born into slavery in Virginia, who through her skill as a modiste (dressmaker) bought freedom for herself and her son in the 1850s. She moved to Washington, D.C., op... more »ened a business, and became a dressmaker for and intimate of Mary Todd Lincoln during and after the Lincoln White House years."« less