Overview

The Elizabeth Keckley Reader: Volume Two--Artistry, Culture & Commerce--edited by Sheila Smith McKoy, expands on the Elizabeth Keckley Reader series inspired by the remarkable life of Elizabeth Keckley. A slave in Hillsborough, NC, Keckley went on to buy her freedom. She became a noted seamstress in Civil War-era Washington, DC, and was most famously the confidante of First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln. Volume Two explores Keckley as an independent businesswoman, acclaimed dress designer, and craftswoman. She achieved critical success within a few years of buying her freedom and went on to design and make couture for some of the nation's most prominent women, including Mrs. Jefferson Davis, as well as Mary Todd Lincoln. Volume Two features scholarly works on Keckley, her short-lived commercial success, her aesthetic, and her contributions to American fashion design, as well as the visual nature of her writing in her narrative, Behind the Scenes (published in 1868). Keckley's skills, sense of design, and determination help her rise from slavery to become a successful black entrepreneur and community leader in Washington, DC. Includes photographs.

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9780997314441

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Dr. Sheila Smith McKoy is the Editor of the Elizabeth Keckley Reader series. She is chair of English at Kinnesaw State University. A poet, literary critic, and fiction writer, she has published in numerous publications including the critically acclaimed Schomburg series African American Women Writers 1910-1940, Callaloo, Contours, Journal of Ethnic American Literature, Obsidian, and Valley Voices. Her book, When Whites Riot received critical attention internationally. She has recently completed a book of poetry. As a poet, prosist and critic, she has worked extensively in the fields of African, African American, Afro-Caribbean, and other African-descent literatures.

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