Behind the Scenes: Thirty Years a Slave and Four Years in the White House

"Behind the Scenes" is both a slave narrative and a portrait of the First Family, especially Mary Todd Lincoln, and is considered controversial for breaking privacy about them. It was also her claim as a businesswoman to be part of the new mixed-race, middle-class that was visible among the leadership of the black community. Elizabeth Hobbs Keckley (1818 – 1907) was a former slave who became a su...