Elizabeth Keckly: From Slavery to Celebrity

Elizabeth Keckly: From Slavery to Celebrity

In this lesson, students learn about the life of Elizabeth Keckly, an enslaved woman (who spent part of her life in Hillsborough, NC), who because of her skills and fortitude, became a successful business woman and Mary Lincoln’s dressmaker and friend. Students will explore, evaluate and make inferences from primary source documents in order to understand how an enslaved woman crafts her own path to success and celebrity.

Go Back
Essential Questions: 
What was Elizabeth Keckly’s life like as an enslaved person?
What skills did Keckly possess to resist enslavement and become a successful business woman?