Elizabeth Hobbs Keckley (sometimes spelled Keckly; February 1818 - May 1907) was a former slave who became a successful seamstress, civil activist, and author in Washington, DC. She was best known as the personal modiste and confidante of Mary Todd Lincoln, the First Lady. Keckley had moved to Washington in 1860 after buying her freedom and that of her son in St. Louis. She created an independent business in the capital based on clients who were the wives of the government elite. Among them were Varina Davis, wife of Jefferson Davis; and Mary Anna Custis Lee, wife of Robert E. Lee. After the American Civil War, Keckley wrote and published an autobiography, Behind the Scenes: Or, Thirty Years a Slave and Four Years in the White House (1868). It was 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, educated middle-class that was visible among the leadership of the black community.Keckley's relationship with Mary Todd Lincoln, the President's wife, was notable for its personal quality and intimacy, as well as its endurance over time. Early life Elizabeth Keckley was born a slave in February 1818, in Dinwiddie County Court House, Dinwiddie, Virginia, just south of Petersburg. Her mother Agnes was a house slave owned by Armistead and Mary Burwell. "Aggy" was a "house slave" as she had learned to read and write, although this was illegal for slaves. Agnes did not tell Keckley her father's true identity until on her own deathbed, although it was "obvious" by Elizabeth's appearance that he was white. Elizabeth's biological father, revealed to her late in life, was Agnes' master Armistead Burwell, a planter and colonel in the War of 1812. The nature of the relationship between Agnes and Burwell is unknown. He permitted Agnes to marry George Pleasant Hobbs, a literate slave who lived and worked at a neighbor's home during Elizabeth's early childhood. When his owner decided to move far away, Hobbs was taken away from his family. Although they were never reunited, they corresponded for many years. As an adult, Elizabeth Keckley noted "the most precious mementoes of my existence are the faded old letters that he wrote, full of love, and always hoping that the future would bring brighter days."Keckley lived in the Burwell house with her mother and began official duties at age 4. As the Burw