History on Foot Depicts Life of Mary Todd Lincoln Confidante

Republished with permission from the Washington Informer

By Edith Billups - WI Staff Writer

Thursday, 21 May 2009

When she was asked to finish a dress in three days for a prominent D.C. matron, seamstress Elizabeth Keckly said she could not finish the job in so short a time. A promise to meet Mary Todd Lincoln, wife of Abraham Lincoln, however, spurred the former slave to rise to the occasion. Keckly would meet Mrs. Lincoln and later become not only her personal seamstress, but her personal confidante.

The relationship between the two women is shown in a new D.C. walking tour, featuring actress Danielle Drakes as Keckly, who would later publish a book about her four years in the Lincoln White House. The book became a source for Lincoln historians.

Written by playwright and former African Continuum Theater Artistic Director Jennifer Nelson, the one woman “show” takes participants on a 1.5 mile walking tour of the places where Keckly would have visited in the 1860’s, including her home in Northwest.

“It’s the Ford Theatre’s concept, and they asked me if I was interested in writing it. The subject and the period were interesting to me,” Nelson said.

Nelson said she found Keckly’s “indomitable spirit” and the early hardships in her life remarkable.

“She was probably the most prominent dress designer in D.C. during that time and was sewing for all of the upper class ladies during the Civil War. Her writing about her time in the White House has become a primary source of what life was like in the Lincoln White House. She is always quoted by Lincoln historians,” Nelson said.

Nelson said she wrote the play in a 19th century voice and conducted research on the Lincolns and the history of the District.

“Getting inside of who Keckly was and being able to share that with other people has been really exciting,” Drakes said.

“During Lizzie’s years as Mary Todd Lincoln’s seamstress, Lizzie really tried to help Mary Todd Lincoln who suffered from depression and was considered high-strung. She lost two children and when she was in The White House, she incurred a lot of debt. Lizzie tried to help her friend and asked Frederick Douglass to hold a series of speaking engagements and donate the money to Mrs. Lincoln, but Mary refused to accept the money.”

When Keckly later wrote a book that she hoped would be sympathetic to Mrs. Lincoln, the publisher ran the entirety of some letters that Mrs. Lincoln wrote which revealed the first lady’s depressive state.

“The publisher had said he would not print all of the letters in their entirety, but he did,” said Drakes.

The book had the opposite effect and put a strain on the women’s friendship.

On the 90-minute tour, Drakes takes participants to several places where Keckly would have passed in D.C., including St. Patrick’s Catholic Church “which she had to pass by to get to City Hall to get her manumission documents that showed she had purchased her freedom,” Drakes said.