{"product_id":"behind-the-scenes-isbn-9780143039242","title":"Behind the Scenes","description":"Originally published in 1868—when it was attacked as an “indecent book” authored by a “traitorous eavesdropper”—\u003cb\u003eBehind the Scenes\u003c\/b\u003e is the story of Elizabeth Keckley, who began her life as a slave and became a privileged witness to the presidency of Abraham Lincoln. Keckley bought her freedom at the age of thirty-seven and set up a successful dressmaking business in Washington, D.C. She became modiste to Mary Todd Lincoln and in time her friend and confidante, a relationship that continued after Lincoln’s assassination. In documenting that friendship—often using the First Lady’s own letters—\u003cb\u003eBehind the Scenes\u003c\/b\u003e fuses the slave narrative with the political memoir. It remains extraordinary for its poignancy, candor, and historical perspective.\u003cul\u003e\u003cli\u003e\u003cp\u003eFirst time in Penguin Classics\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\u003c\/ul\u003eElizabeth Hobbs Keckley (1818–1907) was born a slave near Dinwiddie Court House, Virginia, and, after purchasing her freedom, became head of the Domestic Science Department at Wilberforce University in Ohio.\u003cbr\u003eWilliam L. Andrews is E. Maynard Adams Professor of English at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is the author of \u003cb\u003eTo Tell a Free Story\u003c\/b\u003e and editor or coeditor of more than thirty books on African American literature.\u003cp\u003eTable of Contents\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eTitle Page\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eCopyright Page\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIntroduction\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePREFACE\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eCHAPTER I - WHERE I WAS BORN\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eCHAPTER II - GIRLHOOD AND ITS SORROWS\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eCHAPTER III - HOW I GAINED MY FREEDOM\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eCHAPTER IV -  IN THE FAMILY OF SENATOR JEFFERSON DAVIS\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eCHAPTER V -  MY INTRODUCTION TO MRS. LINCOLN\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eCHAPTER VI -  WILLIE LINCOLN’S DEATH-BED\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eCHAPTER VII -  WASHINGTON IN 1862-3\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eCHAPTER VIII -  CANDID OPINIONS\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eCHAPTER IX -  BEHIND THE SCENES\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eCHAPTER X -  THE SECOND INAUGURATION\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eCHAPTER XI -  THE ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT LINCOLN\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eCHAPTER XII -  MRS. LINCOLN LEAVES THE WHITE HOUSE\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eCHAPTER XIII -  THE ORIGIN OF THE RIVALRY BETWEEN MR. DOUGLAS AND MR. LINCOLN\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eCHAPTER XIV -  OLD FRIENDS\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eCHAPTER XV -  THE SECRET HISTORY OF MRS. LINCOLN’S WARDROBE IN NEW YORK\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAPPENDIX\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eExplanatory Notes\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePENGUINCLASSICS\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBEHIND THE SCENES\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eELIZABETH HOBBS KECKLEY (1818-1907) was born a slave near Dinwiddie Court House, Virginia, but purchased her freedom at the age of thirty-seven and set up a successful dressmaking business in Washington, D.C., in 1860. After serving as a seamstress for Varina Davis, wife of the Mississippi senator Jefferson Davis, Keckley became the modiste for Mary Todd Lincoln, the First Lady of the United States, shortly after Abraham Lincoln was inaugurated president of the United States in 1861. Gaining ready access to the Lincoln family by virtue of her constant employment by Mrs. Lincoln, Keckley spent much of the next four years in the White House, where she became not only Mary Todd Lincoln’s dressmaker but her friend and confidante. After President Lincoln was assassinated in the spring of 1865 and his widow moved back to Illinois, Keckley remained a trusted advisor and support to Mrs. Lincoln. Stung by public criticism of her efforts to help the debt-ridden former First Lady raise money by selling her expensive wardrobe, Keckley tried to defend herself in her autobiography, \u003ci\u003eBehind the Scenes, Or, Thirty Years a Slave, and Four Years in the White House,\u003c\/i\u003e which was published in New York in 1868. Keckley’s intimate perspective on the relationship between the martyred president and his wife, along with the publication of many letters from Mrs. Lincoln to Keckley, made \u003ci\u003eBehind the Scenes\u003c\/i\u003e instantly controversial as an “indecent book” authored by a “traitorous eavesdropper.” Returning to her business, Keckley lived and worked in Washington, D.C., until 1892, when she moved to Ohio to accept a position as head of Wilberforce University’s Domestic Science department. She died in 1907, a resident of the National Home for Destitute Colored Women and Children in Washington, D.C.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWILLIAM L. ANDREWS, E. Maynard Adams Professor of English at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, is the author of  \u003ci\u003eThe Literary Career of Charles W. Chesnutt\u003c\/i\u003e (1980) and \u003ci\u003eTo Tell a Free Story: The First Century of Afro-American Autobiography,\u003c\/i\u003e  1760-1865 (1986). He is the editor or coeditor of more than thirty books on African American literature, including \u003ci\u003eThe Oxford Companion to African American Literature\u003c\/i\u003e (1997), The  \u003ci\u003eNorton Anthology of African American Literature\u003c\/i\u003e (2003), and  \u003ci\u003eNorth Carolina Slave Narratives\u003c\/i\u003e (2003). He has held research grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the American Council of Learned Societies, and the American Philosophical Society, and has been a fellow of the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePENGUIN BOOKS\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePublished by the Penguin Group\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePenguin Group (USA) Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, U.S.A.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePenguin Group (Canada), 10 Alcorn Avenue, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M4V 3B2 (a division of Pearson Penguin Canada Inc.)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePenguin Books Ltd, 80 Strand, London WC2R ORL, England\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePenguin Ireland, 25 St Stephen’s Green, Dublin 2, Ireland (a division of Penguin Books Ltd)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePenguin Group (Australia), 250 Camberwell Road, Camberwell, Victoria 3124,\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAustralia (a division of Pearson Australia Group Pty Ltd)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePenguin Books India Pvt Ltd, 11 Community Centre, Panchsheel Park, New Delhi - 110 017, India Penguin Group (NZ), cnr Airborne and Rosedale Roads, Albany, Auckland 1310, New Zealand (a division of Pearson New Zealand Ltd)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePenguin Books (South Africa) (Pty) Ltd, 24 Sturdee Avenue, Rosebank, Johannesburg 2196, South Africa\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePenguin Books Ltd, Registered Offices; 80 Strand, London WC2R ORL, England\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFirst published in the United States of America by G. W. Carleton \u0026amp; Co., Publishers 1868\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis edition with an introduction and notes by William L. Andrews published in Penguin Books 2005\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIntroduction and notes copyright © William L. Andrews, 2005\u003cp\u003eAll rights reserved\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eLIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eKeckley, Elizabeth, ca. 1818-1907.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBehind the scenes, or, Thirty years a slave and four years in the White House \/ Elizabeth Keckley ; introduction and notes by William L. Andrews. p. cm.—(Penguin classics)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eOriginally published: New York: G. W. Carleton \u0026amp; Co., 1868.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eeISBN : 978-1-101-00732-7\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e1. Keckley, Elizabeth, ca. 1818-1907. 2. African American women—Biography. 3. Women slaves—United \u003cbr\u003eStates—Biography. 4. Dressmakers—United States—Biography. 5. Slaves—United States—Biography. \u003cbr\u003e6. Lincoln, Mary Todd, 1818-1882-Relations with African Americans. 7. Lincoln, Abraham, \u003cbr\u003e1809-1865—Relations with African Americans. I. Title: Behind the scenes. II. Title: Thirty years a slave \u003cbr\u003eand four years in the White House. III. Andrews, William L., 1946- IV. Title. V. Series.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eE457.15.K26 2005 \u003cbr\u003e973.7’092—dc22 \u003cbr\u003e[B] 2004051363\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSet in Sabon\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book via the Internet or via any other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions, and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eNote on the Text\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis edition of \u003ci\u003eBehind the Scenes\u003c\/i\u003e reprints the original 1868 edition, as published by G. W. Carleton \u0026amp; Company. The original spelling, capitalization, punctuation, paragraphing, and chapter and section divisions in the 1868 edition have been preserved in this edition, except when there is an inconsistency of spelling within a text, the evident result of a printer’s error. Keckley’s original footnotes are reprinted as they appeared in the 1868 edition. All numbered annotations to the text are provided by the editor of this Penguin Classics edition.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eIntroduction\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Penguin Classics","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46303364219109,"sku":"NP9780143039242","price":16.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780143039242.jpg?v=1767722386","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/es\/products\/behind-the-scenes-isbn-9780143039242","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}