Mrs. Lincoln's Dressmaker

Content Warning: This section of the guide describes and discusses the novel’s treatment of physical abuse, sexual assault and rape, the death of a child, and racism and enslavement.

A third-person narrator introduces Elizabeth Keckley on the day Abraham Lincoln is elected president of the United States. Elizabeth hurries home to her boarding house in Washington City, fearful of a potential riot or violence resulting from the election. A former enslaved person, Elizabeth doesn’t feel completely free in a city that requires her to carry a permit announcing her freed status, observe a curfew, and obtain a business license only needed by people of color. Elizabeth discusses the election with her landlady, Virginia Lewis. The women suspect that the upper-class ladies of Washington City (Elizabeth’s clients from her dressmaking business) dislike the idea of Abraham Lincoln as their president, mainly since he runs on an abolitionist platform. Elizabeth and Virginia pray that Lincoln will bring an end to slavery.

Having endured slavery for 37 years, Elizabeth worked hard as a seamstress, diligently saving her money and purchasing legal freedom for herself and her son, George. George now attends Wilberforce University in Ohio. Though Elizabeth misses him, she works hard to build her business as a dressmaker.