Named event or history
Keckly’s enslaved years in the Burwell household and her memoir’s testimony about them, including the abuse by schoolmaster William Bingham.
10 indexed works are connected with this event. 6 held at OCPL →
Related works found in catalogs and archives across North Carolina. Each links to the institution that holds or provides it.
A reader on Elizabeth Keckley edited by Sheila Smith McKoy, gathering criticism and interpretation of Behind the Scenes, Keckley's 1868 memoir of enslavement and of her years as Mary Todd Lincoln's dressmaker. Keckley's enslavement included years in Hillsborough, which is the book's Orange County link. Published in 2016, 274 pages.
Why this is here: Catalog heading in the NCCU record: Behind the scenes (Keckley, Elizabeth).
Jennifer Chiaverini's historical novel about Elizabeth Keckley, the formerly enslaved dressmaker who sewed for Mary Todd Lincoln and became her friend in the White House years. Published by Dutton in 2013, 356 pages, in a large print edition. Topics include first ladies, women dressmakers and female friendship. Keckley's years in Hillsborough give the book its Orange County connection.
Why this is here: Catalog heading in the NC Cardinal record: Keckley, Elizabeth, ca. 1818-1907 -- Fiction.
Ann Rinaldi's young adult novel about the friendship between Mary Todd Lincoln and Elizabeth Keckley, the dressmaker who was born into slavery and later worked in the Lincoln White House. It is fiction on both women, slavery and nineteenth-century United States history. Keckley's years as an enslaved young woman in Hillsborough are the Orange County link. Published by Harcourt in 2007, 241 pages.
Why this is here: Catalog heading in the NC Cardinal record: Keckley, Elizabeth, approximately 1818-1907 -- Fiction.
Jennifer Fleischner's double biography of Mary Todd Lincoln and Elizabeth Keckley, the dressmaker who had been enslaved, including years in Hillsborough, before buying her freedom and becoming the First Lady's confidante. Published by Broadway Books in New York in 2003, 372 pages with illustrations and a map. Topics include enslaved women in Hillsborough and the United States, dressmakers and women's friendships in the nineteenth century.
Why this is here: Catalog heading in the Library of Congress record: Keckley, Elizabeth, approximately 1818-1907.
Becky Rutberg's biography of Elizabeth Keckley, born into slavery in Virginia, who bought her freedom, became a dressmaker in Washington and served Mary Todd Lincoln as dressmaker and confidante. Written for young readers and published by Walker in 1995, 166 pages with illustrations. Keckley spent years in Hillsborough as an enslaved young woman, which is the Orange County link.
Why this is here: Catalog heading in the Durham record: Keckley, Elizabeth, approximately 1818-1907.
Elizabeth Keckley's memoir of 1868, thirty years in slavery and four years in the White House as dressmaker and confidante to Mary Todd Lincoln. Keckley spent part of her enslaved youth in Hillsborough, which ties the book to Orange County. This edition is the Oxford University Press reprint, with a portrait, 371 pages.
Why this is here: Catalog heading in the OCPL record: Keckley, Elizabeth.
A 2023 telling of the life of Elizabeth Keckley, the dressmaker who bought her freedom and later sewed for Mary Todd Lincoln in the White House. Keckley is a local subject because she was enslaved for several years in Hillsborough as a young woman.
Why this is here: Catalog heading in the OCPL record: Keckley, Elizabeth.
Connie Schofield-Morrison's 2021 account of Elizabeth Keckley, who was born into slavery, learned to sew, purchased her freedom and became dressmaker to Mary Todd Lincoln. The Orange County tie is her years of enslavement in Hillsborough as a young woman.
Why this is here: Catalog heading in the OCPL record: Keckley, Elizabeth.
Papers of McGilvery M. Staton, a brick dealer, farmer and slaveholder of Williamston in Martin County, and of his neighbors there, 314 items from 1807. Letters come from David L. Swain, Elisha Mitchell, William James Bingham, Asa Biggs and John Spelman, and topics include the settling of Staton's estate in 1861, the University of North Carolina, lotteries and newspapers.
Why this is here: The record names this subject alongside a heading for the county or its towns.
Letters of the Clingman, Jarratt, Poindexter and Puryear families, who were among the first settlers of Surry County, with a genealogical table, 2,349 items (3 linear feet) from 1807. Topics include the trade in enslaved people between North Carolina and Alabama in 1830 to 1835, the Civil War and Reconstruction, plantations and whiskey making, with Zebulon B. Vance, John A. Gilmer and William James Bingham of the Bingham School among the names.
Why this is here: The record names this subject alongside a heading for the county or its towns.
Books in OCPL’s Rebecca B. Wall Local History Collection whose titles, catalog subjects, or descriptions match this event. The Friends’ recommended starting points are labelled. Books marked Wider context cover the broader subject rather than this event itself.
Estate records from Orange County, 1840 to 1865, that name enslaved people: inventories, sales and divisions in which men, women and children were listed as property. Published in 2000, it is a source for the county's history of slavery and for African American genealogy.
The Historic Hillsborough Commission's account of slavery in antebellum Hillsborough and of the enslaved and free people of color who worked at the Burwell School, the female school the Burwells kept in town, between 1837 and 1857. African American history in Hillsborough and the school's own history are its two threads. Published in 2019.
Four narratives by men enslaved in North Carolina, reprinted in 2003: Moses Roper's of 1838, Lunsford Lane's of 1842, Moses Grandy's of 1843 and the Reverend Thomas H. Jones's of 1854. Editor William L. Andrews opens with an essay on how such books fed the abolitionist movement and began an African American literary tradition, and each text has an introduction and notes. The stories reach from Caswell County and Raleigh to Camden County and Wilmington.
Richard Walser's biography of George Moses Horton, the enslaved poet who sold verses to students at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill and published while still enslaved. The subtitle notes the story is partly told by Horton himself. Published by the Philosophical Library in 1966, 120 pages with illustrations; this copy is inscribed by the author.
Enslaved people and free people of color as they appear in the session papers of North Carolina's General Assembly from 1709 to 1789, the years of the colonial assembly and the first state legislatures, gathered by William L. Byrd III. Heritage Books first issued the compilation in 2001; this 2011 reprint has 225 pages with a bibliography and an index.
North Carolina's laws on enslaved people, free people of color and Native Americans, compiled by William L. Byrd III: the statutes that governed slavery and fixed the legal standing of free Black and Indian residents. Willow Bend Books first published the compilation in 2004; this 2007 Heritage Books printing runs to 479 pages with an index.
A short handbook on tracing enslaved African American ancestors through slave records, with case studies and a bibliography, by David H. Streets. First published by Heritage Books in 1986, the 87-page guide was reprinted in 2008.
Elizabeth Keckley's 1868 memoir of thirty years in slavery and four years as dressmaker and confidante to Mary Todd Lincoln. Born in Virginia, she spent part of her youth in Hillsborough, North Carolina, where her owner's son kept the Burwell School for girls, and later bought freedom for herself and her son in St. Louis. Its frank picture of the Lincolns drew public disapproval. Reprinted by Arno Press in 1968, 371 pages.
Twenty-one narratives by formerly enslaved North Carolinians, chosen by Belinda Hurmence for their quality and published by John F. Blair of Winston-Salem in 1984; 103 pages with a bibliography. Hurmence later combined them with South Carolina accounts in 'Before Freedom: 48 Oral Histories of Former North and South Carolina Slaves' (1990).
Dated events connected with this event, earliest first. See these 7 dated events in the chronology →
Background from selected state and local sources
Local organizations that preserve the story and can help you go further
Other catalogs to search and local organizations that can help.
Picture: Elizabeth Hobbs Keckly. Public domain. docsouth.unc.edu; via Wikimedia Commons
More to discover
The Friends connect people with new library materials, local writers and publishers, and resources documenting Orange County.
