Fitting and Becoming
My illustration of a woman wearing a Civil War-era dress.
The Story of Elizabeth Keckley and Her Dressmaking, Wilberforce,
Ohio 2022
By Anna Krejci
In 2022, we visited Central State University, formerly Wilberforce University. My spouse and I wanted to visit this Historical Black College or University situated only a 20-minute drive from Yellow Springs, Ohio. According to the Wilberforce University website, it is a liberal arts college that was established prior to the U.S. Civil War and is the oldest private HBCU managed and retained by African Americans.
On campus we visited the National Afro-American History
Museum and Cultural Center. At that time
an exhibit called “Queens of the Heartland” informed about the accomplishments
of notable African American women in Ohio – some with connections to the
university. They were women who persevered through the Suffrage and Civil
Rights Movements from the 1800s to recent times. Some of the women lived part of their lives
in slavery and bought their freedom before they could pursue education.
The displays were sobering, but important. One of the women who taught at Wilberforce
University was Elizabeth Keckley, who earlier had purchased her freedom from
slavery with a loan that she repaid. She
sewed dresses for a living and made them for Mary Todd Lincoln, first lady of
the United States married to President Abraham Lincoln. The website, Ohio Memory, states that
after the U.S. Civil War, Keckley was on faculty to teach her trade at
Wilberforce University but soon experienced a stroke that left her unable to
work. She suffered a decline in health and died in 1907.
For Keckley, dressmaking was a manner of establishing
herself with her slave owners and of earning her own freedom. In her memoir, Behind the Scenes, Keckley explains
how she became free in 1855, prior to the U.S. Civil War. I realized how Keckley made her way in life; she
operated according to the framework in which she lived. She secured her freedom while obeying slave-holding
laws – even as oppressive and unjust as they were.
When I walked among the displays in the exhibit, I was most
drawn to the one that discussed Keckley, since curators displayed an antique wedding
dress. There was so much to see at the
exhibit, I might have overlooked the information about Keckley had it not been
for the noticeable display of that dress.
I love looking at dresses and imagining how I would look in them. It makes an impression to think that Keckley
went through much of life as a slave and still made the white women and men she
encountered feel esteemed in their garments.
Why could not all Americans have seen the individual in Keckley, who was
being denied human rights? She transformed those fabrics into something fitting
and becoming for other individuals. Why
did Keckley’s life have to be so hard? Is
the United States now a better, more equal and compassionate place for everyone,
because former slaves like Keckley maneuvered around, sacrificed for, and
persuaded their slave owners, to sell them their freedom?
We left the museum. At home I read a copy of Keckley’s memoir. As a free person, Keckley established clients in Washington, D.C., who recommended her to new customers for her dressmaking. She knew statesmen and their wives. She used her social connections to start the Contraband Relief Organization and raised money to help recently freed slaves. Her resourcefulness was amazing. She took assistance at times, helped herself and aided others often. Her capabilities were truly amazing, as is her story.
About Our Trip to Yellow Springs
I enjoyed visiting the National Afro-American History Museum and Cultural Center as part of our Yellow Springs vacation. Two years ago this month, we were in Yellow Springs, and the drive to Wilberforce to see the museum gave us enjoyable glimpses of the countryside. It rained during part of our vacation, so visiting a museum was a perfect outing for that kind of weather. We stayed overnight in Yellow Springs and enjoyed eating at the unique restaurants and browsing in the interesting stores. When it was not raining, we enjoyed walking on the Little Miami Scenic Trail that passes through downtown Yellow Springs. My spouse and I find that visiting college towns in Ohio tends to be exciting and educational. Wilberforce houses two learning institutions: Wilberforce University and Central State University. Yellow Springs is the site of Antioch College. It is exciting to be near places of learning, and we are always on the hunt for centers on such campuses that are open to the public.
Works Cited
“Our History and Traditions.” Central State University, 2024,
Keckley, Elizabeth. Behind the Scenes or Thirty Years a
Slave, and Four Years in the White House, Martino Fine Books, 2017, Eastford,
CT.
Kupfer, Shannon. “Elizabeth Keckley’s ‘Behind the Scenes,’” Ohio
Memory, 5 Jan. 2018, https://ohiomemory.ohiohistory.org/archives/3611 .
“About Wilberforce University.” Wilberforce University, Retrieved 31 March, 2024, https://wilberforce.edu/about-wilberforce/.