{"id":2330,"date":"2016-11-08T20:52:53","date_gmt":"2016-11-08T20:52:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-117pinsker\/?p=2330"},"modified":"2016-12-13T22:05:43","modified_gmt":"2016-12-13T22:05:43","slug":"elizabeth-keckley-1818-1907-the-path-to-freed-womanhood","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-117pinsker\/2016\/11\/08\/elizabeth-keckley-1818-1907-the-path-to-freed-womanhood\/","title":{"rendered":"Elizabeth Keckly (1818-1907), Success in Manumission"},"content":{"rendered":"

Keckly, Elizabeth. Behind the Scenes, or, Thirty years a Slave, and Four Years in the White House New York: G. W. Carleton & Co., Publishers, 1868. 371 p.<\/a><\/p>\n

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Courtesy of Fleischner, page 18.<\/p><\/div>\n

Elizabeth Keckly\u2019s story is a remarkable one. Her life is important to discuss when analyzing the act of manumission, which is when a slaveholder decides to free their own slaves. Elizabeth Keckly was a loyal slave for many years to master Colonel A. Burwell [1]. Her fidelity in service to her slaveowners was recognized and honored through Lizzy Keckly and her son\u2019s liberation. The spelling of her name speaks to her strength and her ability to find independence and individuality in a life that was oppressive in its majority. Elizabeth Keckly spelled her name differently than how it appears in history books and most published articles, and how even Abraham Lincoln’s wife spelt it [2]. \u201cLizzie Keckley\u201d is the spelling most commonly seen. However, she herself would sign her name \u201cElizabeth\u201d or \u201cLizzy Keckly.\u201d Thus in this blog post, much like Jennifer Fleischner\u2019s book, Elizabeth\u2019s name will be spelt as \u201cLizzy Keckly\u201d in order to restore her voice in history and present Lizzy how she presented herself [3].<\/p>\n

\"Elizabeth_Keckley__public_domain_\"<\/a>

Courtesy of Fleischner, page 19.<\/p><\/div>\n

The reasons for a slaveholder to decide to free his or her slaves varied upon the owner [4]. In some cases, slaveholders exercised the act of manumission because a slave had surpassed a capable age to effectively execute the labor that needed to be completed on the plantations and were no longer of best use to their slave owners [5]. In other cases, similar to Keckly\u2019s situation, freedom was granted due to loyalty, service, or good behavior. Originally, when Keckly asked her master for freedom, he refused [6]. Her motive for requesting liberation was because she did not want her son to be born into slavery like she was [7]. Keckly\u2019s son \u201ccame into the world by no will\u201d of her own [8]. \u201cOne-half of my boy was free, and why should not this fair birthright of freedom remove the curse from the other half\u2026 Much as I respected the authority of my master, I could not remain silent on a subject that so nearly concerned me\u201d [9]. Her son was of mixed-race, however Keckly did not want her son to live a mixed-life; she wanted him to only know freedom [10].<\/p>\n

Sexual relations between masters and slaves was common This created a population of slaves that had become \u201cvisibly whiter\u201d [11]. It is possible that due to this relationship that her master felt guilty about owning one of his own children. However, this is not explicitly indicated. According to her memoir, it was Keckly\u2019s loyalty and servitude to the her masters for decades that explained why her owner eventually decided to liberate Keckly and their son. She was strategic with her requests for freedom. When her master told her he would pay for her to run away and take the ferryboat, she refused by showing loyalty in this moment [12]. In addition, she stated that she wanted to earn the money to buy her and her son\u2019s freedom, which attests to her pragmatism, drive, and level-headedness in obtaining the \u201cupward mobility\u201d she sought [13]. She was able to borrow, and repay through dressmaking, $1,200 in exchange for her and her son\u2019s freedom. That amount of money is equivalent to about $27,000 today [14].<\/p>\n