Aggy also sewed clothing for the family, a skill she taught her daughter. She was well liked by the Burwell children and the family even permitted her to read and write. Her name and birth were recorded in a plantation commonplace book by Colonel Burwell’s mother Anne, “Lizzy-child of Aggy/Feby 1818.” 3Įlizabeth grew up with other enslaved children and assisted her mother in her work as an enslaved domestic servant. Elizabeth also did not know the truth behind her parentage until later in life. Her mother gave her the last name of George’s family, a direct sign of autonomy and resistance. Even though Elizabeth was not his child, George remained devoted to Agnes and Elizabeth and she considered him her father. Aggy’s husband, George Pleasant Hobbs, was an enslaved man that worked on a nearby plantation. 2 Despite her parentage, Elizabeth Hobbs was born enslaved. Although it is unknown how this pregnancy came to be and the nature of the relationship between Aggy and Burwell, it is likely the pregnancy was the result of rape or a non-consensual encounter. Sometime during the spring of 1817, while plantation owner Colonel Armistead Burwell’s wife, Mary, was pregnant with the couple’s tenth child, an enslaved woman named Agnes (Aggy) Hobbs became pregnant by Colonel Burwell. The circumstances surrounding her birth were complex. Click here to learn more about the household of President Abraham Lincoln.Įlizabeth Hobbs Keckly was born in February 1818 in Dinwiddie County, Virginia. Her story is integral to White House history and understanding the experiences of enslaved and free Black women. Although the American public was not prepared to read the story of a free Black woman assuming control of her own life narrative at the time of publication, her recollections have been used by many historians to reconstruct the Lincoln White House and better understand one of the nation’s most fascinating and misunderstood first ladies. Lincoln and destroyed the reputation of both women. It soured her close relationship with Mrs. At the time of its publication, the book was controversial. 1 This revealing narrative reflected on Elizabeth’s fascinating story, detailing her life experiences from slavery to her successful career as First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln’s dressmaker. In 1868, Elizabeth (Lizzy) Hobbs Keckly (also spelled Keckley) published her memoir Behind the Scenes or Thirty Years a Slave, and Four Years in the White House.
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