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Elizabeth Keckley

The Seamstress

2018-10-01 19:00:00 2018-10-01 20:00:00 America/Chicago Elizabeth Keckley Storyteller Marlene Rivero portrays Elizabeth Keckley, the seamstress, friend, and confidante of First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln. Fremont Public Library - Events Room, 2nd Floor

Monday, October 01
7:00pm - 8:00pm

Add to Calendar 2018-10-01 19:00:00 2018-10-01 20:00:00 America/Chicago Elizabeth Keckley Storyteller Marlene Rivero portrays Elizabeth Keckley, the seamstress, friend, and confidante of First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln. Fremont Public Library - Events Room, 2nd Floor

Fremont Public Library

Events Room, 2nd Floor

Storyteller Marlene Rivero portrays Elizabeth Keckley, the seamstress, friend, and confidante of First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln.

Elizabeth Keckley, portrayed in this presentation by storyteller and actor Marlene Rivero, is best remembered today as the seamstress, friend, and confidante of First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln.  In fact, she was that and much more: a highly accomplished, multi-dimensional person with a wide range of experience and a strong sense of self-reliance.

Keckley’s autobiography, Behind the Scenes: Or, Thirty Years a Slave, and Four Years in the White House, describes her experiences of earning money with her hands as a seamstress to support her white slaveholder and his household of seventeen people.  She gained a reputation as an excellent tailor and dressmaker.  She writes,

“While I was working so hard that others might live in comparative comfort, and move in those circles of society to which their birth gave them entrance, the thought often occurred to me whether I was really worth my salt or not; then perhaps the lips curled with a bitter sneer.”

After securing her freedom, Keckley used those same hands to work for lower pay than white seamstresses typically received.  As an ex-slave, she was forced to make concessions on her prices to obtain work from white middle- and upper-class ladies.  Although it was exceedingly rare for African American women to establish and own businesses at that time, Keckley did exactly that, eventually employing more than twenty other women.

This program is generously funded by the Illinois Humanities Road Scholar Program.

AGE GROUP: | Adults |

EVENT TYPE: | Registered Program |

TAGS: | |

Fremont Public Library

Phone: 847-566-8702
Fax: 847-566-0204

Hours
Mon, Mar 18 9:00AM to 9:00PM
Tue, Mar 19 6:00AM to 9:00PM
(voting for Primary Election Day.)
Wed, Mar 20 9:00AM to 9:00PM
Thu, Mar 21 9:00AM to 9:00PM
Fri, Mar 22 9:00AM to 6:00PM
Sat, Mar 23 9:00AM to 5:00PM
Sun, Mar 24 1:00PM to 5:00PM
Mon, Mar 18 9:00AM to 9:00PM
Tue, Mar 19 6:00AM to 9:00PM
(voting for Primary Election Day.)
Wed, Mar 20 9:00AM to 9:00PM
Thu, Mar 21 9:00AM to 9:00PM
Fri, Mar 22 9:00AM to 6:00PM
Sat, Mar 23 9:00AM to 5:00PM
Sun, Mar 24 1:00PM to 5:00PM

Address
1170 N. Midlothian Road
Mundelein, Illinois 60060
Tel: 847-566-8702
Fax: 847-566-0204

About the branch

The Fremont Public Library District encompasses parts of Mundelein, Grayslake, Hawthorn Woods, Libertyville, Round Lake, Round Lake Park, and Wauconda. To find out if you live in our district, please call 847-566-8702. We honor library cards from any other public library in Illinois as well as a few from southern Wisconsin. The library is located in Mundelein, half a mile north of Rte.176 on Midlothian Road.

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