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Name:    Keckley, Elizbeth Hobbs
Profession:  Other
Category:  African-American Experience
Born/Started:    1818
Died/Ended:    1907
Description:    Elizabeth Keckley was Missouri´s most famous black seamstress. After living in St. Louis as a young woman, she moved to Baltimore and then to Washinton D.C. where she became the seamstress and confidante of Mary Todd Lincoln.

Keckley was born a slave in Virginia, but saved her earnings from her work as a seamstress to purchase her freedom in 1855. In 1860, she traveled to Baltimore and taught dress making skills to young black women. She then moved to Washington D.C. and began sewing for the wives of politicians.



Reference
Discovering African-American St. Louis
 Missouris Black Heritage
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